CHERS 


Cibrarjp  of  €he  t:Heolo0ical  ^eminarjo 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 
PRESENTED  BY 

The  Estate  of  the 
Rev.  John  B.  Wiedinger 


u. 


a—e 


{pxiAC^ixe  of  t^t  (g^e 


HENRY  ROBERT  REYNOLDS,  D.D. 


^^My^^   ih^^  -"^--^^^^ 


LIGHT    AND 


MAY  25  MS 


SERMONS  AND   ADDRESSES 


HENRY    ROBE 


BY 

RT  -^ 


EYNOLDS,   D.D. 


PRINCIPAL   OF   CHtSHUNT   COLLEGE 


n 


i^r 


NEW    YORK 

E.    P.    BUTTON    &    CO. 

31,    WEST    TWENTY-THIRD    STREET 

1892 


DEDICATORY   PREFACE 

ADDRESSED   TO   THE   FORMER   STUDENTS   OF 
CHESHUNT   COLLEGE. 


My  dear  Friends, 

I  can  scarcely  do  other  than,  in  the  first  instance 
commend  these  meditations  to  your  generous  consideration 
and  acceptance.  During  several  years,  I  was  precluded  by 
physical  weakness  from  undertaking  any  service  more  public 
than  a  daily  ministry  to  the  religious  and  intellectual 
progress  of  those  of  you,  who  were  preparing  in  this  College 
for  the  ministry  of  the  gospel  in  various  Churches  of 
Great  Britain,  and  in  many  departments  of  home  and  foreign 
service. 

The  majority  of  these  discourses  were  prepared  for  our 
weekly  meetings  for  devotion  and  addressed  primarily  to 
yourselves.  It  is,  therefore,  only  under  protest,  with 
extreme  diffidence,  and  in  an  indirect  fashion  that  I  can 
allow  myself  to  be  reckoned  among  *'  the  preachers  of  the 
age." 

The  prominent  idea  in  this  particular  series  of  discourses 
is  the  recognition  of  the  genuine  relation  that  prevails 
between  religious  ideas  and  holy  living. 


VI  DEDICATORY   PREFACE. 

Faith  rests  on  conviction  of  truth,  and  is  the  radix 
omnium  virtutum.  Faith  is  hght,  and  hght  is  sometimes 
peace.  When  hght  flashes  out  of  darkness  for  om*  behoof, 
it  does  not  merely  appeal  to  our  admiration,  but  shines 
to  point  out  our  pilgrim  way. 

I  have  endeavoured,  in  Sermons  I.  and  II.,  to  show  that 
the  intelligent  apprehension  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face 
of  Jesus  Christ  illumines  the  darkest  places  of  our  thought, 
our  duty,  and  our  destiny.  Sermons  III.-XII.  are  variations 
of  the  same  melody,  and  are  so  far  related  as  to  show 
that  the  law  of  the  spirit  of  life,  the  laws  of  surrender,  of 
growth  and  sacrifice,  and  the  standard  of  union  among 
Christians  are  derived  from  the  best  light  that  has  been 
given  us  touching  the  very  character  and  nature  of  God 
Himself.  Fresh  illustrations  arise  in  following  the  lines  of 
consecrated  service,  the  necessity  for  combat,  and  the  powers 
of  love  and  waitmg,  which  one  by  one  issue  in  a  peace  that 
passeth  all  understanding. 

The  last  sermon  is  the  record  of  an  address  that 
preceded  the  celebration  of  the  Holy  Communion  in  the 
College  Chapel,  in  January,  1887,  when  a  large  number  of 
you  assembled  to  realize  afresh  your  brotherhood  in  Christ 
Jesus.  The  tokens  of  your  friendship  and  affection  have 
been  rare  and  rich ;  and  should  the  perusal  of  this  record 
of  a  time  of  refreshment  soothe  an  hour  of  missionary  toil, 
or  stir  some  pulse  of  pastoral  duty  in  these  great  days  of 
mingled  storm  and  light,  it  will  cheer  the  close  of  my 
prolonged  and  quiet  ministry  at  Cheshunt  College. 
February,  1892. 


CONTENTS. 


THE   KNOWLEDGE   OF   THE   GLORY   OF   GOD. 

PAGK 

"  vSeeing  it  is  God  that  said,  Light  shall  shine  out  of  darkness,  who 
shined  in  our  hearts,  to  give  the  light  [illumination,  R.V. 
marg.]  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of 
Jesus  Christ." — 2  Cor.  iv.  6     ,         i 

Preached  at  EviDianuel  ChurcJi^  Cambridge^  November^  189 1. 

THE   LIGHT   OF   THE    KNOWLEDGE   OF    THE   GLORY. 

■'The  light  [illumination,  R.V.  marg.]  of  the  knowledge  of  the 

gloiy  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ." — 2  Cor.  iv.  6       ...       19 

Preached  at  Emmamtcl  Chitrch,  Canib7-tdge,  November,  1891. 


THE   MINISTRATION   OF   THE   SPIRIT. 

How  shall  not  the  ministration  of  the  Spirit  be  rather  glorious  ? " 
— 2  Cor.  iii.  8 

Preached  at  East  Parade  Chapel,  Leeds. 


THE   TENTH    BEATITUDE. 

Ye  ought  ...  to  remember  the  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  how 
He  Himself  said,  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive." 
— Acts  XX.  35       


vm  CONTENTS. 


ST.   PAUL  A   DEBTOR. 


PAGE 


"I  am  debtor  both  to  Greeks  and  to  Barbarians;  both  to  the 
wise  and  to  the  foolish.  So,  as  much  as  in  me  is,  I  am  ready 
to  preach  the  gospel  to  you  also  that  are  in  Rome." — Rom. 
i.  14  ..•    ^ 1Z 

Preached  in  Mansfield  College  Chapel^  Oxford^  J<^^i-  l8» 
1 89 1,  m  aid  of  the  work  of  the  London  Missionary 
Society. 

THE   SEED   OF   THE   KINGDOM. 

"  And  He  said,  So  is  the  kingdom  of  God,  as  if  a  man  should  cast 
seed  upon  the  earth,  and  should  sleep  and  rise  night  and  day, 
and  the  seed  should  spring  up  and  grow,  he  knoweth  not 
how.  The  earth  beareth  fruit  of  herself;  first  the  blade, 
then  the  ear,  then  the  full  corn  in  the  ear.  But  when  the 
fruit  is  ripe  straightway  he  putteth  forth  the  sickle,  because 
the  harvest  is  come." — Mark  iv.  26-29  ^9 

Preached  in  East  Parade  Chapel^  Leeds, 


THE   IDEAL   AND    STANDARD    OF    CHRISTIAN    UNITY. 

' '  That  they  all  may  be  one,  even  as  Thou,  Father,  art  in  Me, 
and  I  in  Thee,  that  they  may  be  one  in  Us  :  that  the  world 
may  believe  that  Thou  didst  send  Me."— St.  John  xvii.  21        103 

Preached  in  East  Parade  Chapel,  Leeds. 

THE   POWERS   OF   HOLY    LOVE. 
"  The  greatest  of  these  is  love." — i  Cor.  xiii.  13 116 

FAITH   THE   MEASURE  OF   BLESSING. 

"  Great  is  thy  faith  :  be  it  done  unto  thee  even  as  thou  wilt." — 

St.  Matt.  xv.  28  133 

Preached  in  Cheshunt  College  Chapel,  Jzcne  28,  1S21,  at 
the  ordination  of  two  students  appointed  for  missionary 


CONTENTS.  IX 


THE    FULNESS   OF   THE    BLESSING    OF    THE   CHRIST. 

PAGE 

"  When  I  come   unto  you,   I  shall  come   in  the  fulness  of  the 

blessing  of  the  Christ." — Rom.  xv.  29  149 

Preached  at  Hastings,  June  3,    1891,  on  the   eve  of  the 
departure  of  a  young  missionary  for  foreign  service. 


WAITING   UPON   THE   LORD. 

"They  that  wait  upon  the  Lord  shall  renew  their  strength  ;  they 
shall  mount  up  with  wings  as  eagles  ;  they  shall  run,  and  not 
be  weary;  they  shall  walk,  and  not  faint." — IsA.  xl.  31       ...     163 


CONSECRATION    OF   HEARTS   AND   THINGS. 

Address  preceding  the  celebration  of  the  Holy  Communion 
at  the  opening  of  the  Mansfield  College^  Oxford,  October 
15,  1889      181 


MINISTERS   THROUGH   WHOM   YE   BELIEVED." 

Address  preceding  the  celebration  of  the  Holy  Communion 
at  Cheshtitit  College  Chapel^  at  the  formation  of  the 
Cheshunt  Union  of  Former  Students,  Januaiy  16,  1888       195 


THE  KNOWLEDGE  OE  THE 
GLORY  OE  GOD. 


B-6 


Preached  N'ovcmhcr,  1891,  at  Ejiinianucl  Congregational  Churchy 
Cambridge. 


THE  KNOWLEDGE  OF  THE 
GLORY  OF  GOD. 

"  The  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ." — 
2  Cor.  iv.  6. 

Only  a  few  of  the  sons  of  men  enjoyed  the  strange  and 
wonderful  experience  of  gazing  into  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Only  a  few  hints  are  given  to  us  of  what  they  saw  and  felt 
when  they  did  so.  A  group  of  His  earliest  disciples  saw 
His  glory,  and  under  that  spell  said  very  starding  things. 
One  exclaimed,  "  Thou  art  the  Christ,"  and  another,  *'  Thou 
art  the  Son  of  God."  The  mighty  Baptist  found  in  Him 
one  mightier  than  himself,  and  in  strange  prophetic  trance 
cried,  "  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God."  Peter  wailed  in  agony, 
"  Depart  from  me,  I  am  a  sinful  man."  The  Samaritan 
looked  into  that  face  and  exclaimed,  "  I  perceive  that  Thou 
art  a  prophet."  The  leper  prayed,  "  Lord,  if  Thou  wilt,  Thou 
canst  make  me  clean."  The  officers  said  to  the  Sanhedrin, 
*'  Never  man  spake  like  this  Man."  A  ruler  of  the  Jews 
gazed  into  His  face,  and  said,  "  We  know  that  thou  art 
sent  from  God."  A  Roman  centurion  exclaimed,  "  Truly 
this  man  was  the  Son  of  God."  When  His  treacherous 
disciple  caught  sight  of  His  face  in  the  dark  night  of  the 
{)etrayal,  ''  he  went  out  and  wept  bitterly." 


4   THE  KNOWLEDGE  OF  THE  GLORY  OF  GOD. 

Every  human  face   is  a  mask  through  which  streams 
the  hght  of  an  otherwise  invisible  reality.     Every  face  is 
moreover  covered  with   a   mysterious  script  which  others 
imperfectly  strive  to  interpret ;  each  face  conceals,  and  yet 
partially  reveals,  a  history.     The  dimples  of  childhood  and 
the  wrinkles   of  age  alike  proclaim  their  complexity  and 
mystery.     The  character,  the  temperament,  the  past  and  the 
future  of  every  life  are  depicted  on  the  face.     The  effort 
to  repress  expression  has  its  own  cipher.     Even  our  purpose 
to  hide  our  emotion  involuntarily  proclaims  itself  upon  the 
mystic  veil  that  we  draw  over  our  inner  and  real  self.     We 
often  interchange  the  word  "face"  with  the  other  terms  by 
which  we  denote  individuality.     Art  has  represented  for  us 
its  idea  of  our  greatest  men,  but  such  portraiture  is  only 
a  faint  approximation  to  the  reality.     "  The  exterior  sem- 
blance belies  the  soul's  immensity."     And  if  this  be  true  of 
a  httle  child  "  whose  fancies  from  afar  are  brought,"  how 
much  more  is  it  true  of  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ  1     Every 
effort  hitherto  made  to  conceive  or  pourtray  this  face,  by 
line  or  hue  or  word,  has  been  a  failure  from  the  nature  of 
the  case.     Painting  and   poetry  have   perhaps   succeeded 
best  when  they  have  sought  to  represent  the  Child  Jesus,  or 
the  dead  Christ.     This  is  because  in  the  effort  to  do  the  im- 
l)ossible,  artists  have  been  able  in  these  regions  to  utilize  two 
proximate  reserves  of  power.    With  the  ideal  Child,  they  have 
been  able  to  draw  upon  the  resources  or  characteristics  of 
ripened  years,  so  that  the  Infant  has  seemed  more  than  an 
infant  by  some  faint  touch  of  the  Ancient  of  days.     So,  in 
depicting  the  corpse  of  the  Crucified,  the  painter  has  been 
able  to  draw  upon  the  resources  of  life,  and  to  make  death 
pulsate  with  some  strange  hints  of  a  victory  over  itself. 
But  while  Raphael  and  Tintoret,    Diirer  and   Francia 


THE   KNOWLEDGE   OF  THE   GLORY  OF  GOD.        5 

have  expounded  to  us  with  some  satisfaction  the  infant  or 
the  dead  Christ,  yet  Raphael  and  Da  Vinci  and  every  modern 
master  of  form  and  colour  have  failed  to  set  forth  even  their 
own  imagination  of  the  man  Christ.  Colours,  lines,  and 
words  are  equally  powerless  to  do  more  than  hint  at  absolute 
perfection.  The  face  which  troubled  the  Sanhedrin  and 
confounded  Roman  power  and  hushed  the  maddened 
prejudice  of  a  reckless  and  murderous  mob, — the  face  to 
which  little  children  turned  with  confiding  love,  and  before 
which  penitent  harlots  and  the  dying  brigand  found  the  utter- 
most consolation,  transcends  representation.  The  face  which 
was  set  against  all  evil^  and  whose  glance  unmasked  hypocrisy 
and  broke  the  hearts  of  treacherous  disciples, — which  read 
all  that  was  in  man,  and  saw  into  the  depths  of  heaven, 
— which  at  times  shone  above  the  brightness  of  the  sun,  and 
lavished  the  sense  of  an  infinite  benediction  upon  the 
helpless  and  unworthy,  presents  an  impossible  problem  to 
the  artist,  the  poet,  or  the  man  of  science.  The  historian, 
whether  scientific  or  picturesque,  offers  us  sometimes  an 
unintelligible  and  sometimes  a  monstrous  combination 
which  has  no  verisimilitude  or  realism,  and  which  criticism 
readily  consumes  in  its  crucible. 

If  we  can  trust  the  only  authorities  we  possess,  we  have 
to  see,  with  the  eyes  of  imagination  and  faith.  One  in  our 
own  nature,  image,  and  likeness,  who,  nevertheless,  re- 
peatedly claimed  to  hold  the  destinies  of  all  men  and  genera- 
tions in  His  hand.  We  are  called  upon  to  believe  that 
there  did  once  enter  into  the  life  of  our  race  a  Personage 
whom  born  Jews  believed  to  be  more  royal  than  David, 
wiser  than  Solomon,  greater  than  the  prophets,  mightier 
than  Moses  or  Elias,  more  august  than  their  temple,  more 
holy  than  their  Sabbath*.     How  can  pen,  or  pencil,  or  word 


N 


6   THE  KNOWLEDGE  OF  THE  GLORY  OF  GOD. 

set  forth  a  face  which  revealed  at  one  and  the  same  time  the 
uttermost  self-abandonment  and  the  highest  self-conscious- 
ness ;  which  was  the  expression  of  the  loftiest  moral  ideal, 
and  yet  without  a  trace  or  quiver  of  conscious  sin,  or  even 
demerit  ?  How  can  we  pretend  fully  to  realize  a  human 
life  which  was  meek  and  gentle,  and  yet  capable  of  deliver- 
ing the  most  terrible  judgments  upon  every  form  of  selfish- 
ness, hypocrisy,  and  sin;  which,  while  the  embodimeot  of 
the  deepest  humility,  yet  did  not  hesitate  to  claim  equality 
with  God,  a  oneness  with  the  Father  and  a  consciousness 
of  being,  even  while  He  spake  to  men,  ///  heaven  1  We 
trace  to  some  extent  the  lonely  path  of  the  Son  of  Man  till 
we  find  Him  the  object  of  the  concentrated  hatred  of  His 
contemporaries,  the  victim  of  every  passion  and  lie  which 
was  disgracing  humanity.  But  how  can  we  realize  that 
face,  the  very  breath  of  whose  mouth  might  have  consumed 
His  enemies  and  blasted  His  executioners,  but  which  yet 
turned  in  infinite  compassion  upon  His  bloodthirsty  foes^ 
fulfilled  a  sublime  purpose  in  submitting  to  the  shame  and 
curse  of  sin,  and  gave  Himself  up,  demonstrating  thereby  the 
condemnation  of  all  sin,  and  the  terms  of  Divine  suffering 
on  which  alone  the  Eternal  Righteousness  could  and  did 
pardon  it  ?  We  have  to  think  of  One  who  died  and  rose  again 
in  the  human  form  which  had  been  humbled  to  the  death  of 
the  Cross,  and  so  conferred  upon  it  a  glory  which  abolished 
death.  We  have  to  realize  a  human  life  and  death  which 
brought  into  the  consciousness  of  those  who  witnessed  it  "  the 
Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,"  and  opened 
such  a  door  in  heaven,  that  our  faith  can  even  now  see 
that  He  is  "  the  Lamb  of  God  in  the  midst  of  the  throne." 
When  those  who  perpetrated  the  most  tragic  deed  of  all 
time   discovered  what  they  had  done,  they  shrieked  with 


THE   KNOWLEDGE  OF   THE   GLORY   OF   GOD.        7 

fear,  until  they  saw,  through  the  coming  judgment  and  on 
the  cloud  of  doom,  the  bow  of  promise,  and  the  mystery  of 
infinite  love.  When  St.  Paul  caught  sight  of  this  stupendous 
fact,  that  the  Christ,  whom  his  contemporaries  had  crucified 
and  whose  followers  he  had  himself  madly  persecuted,  was 
"  the  Lord  of  Glory "  and  the  Christ  of  all  the  prophetic 
hopes  of  his  people,  his  life  was  transfigured  and  revolu- 
tionized. He  was  eager  to  confess  that  he  counted  "all 
things  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ 
Jesus."  Now,  St.  Paul  here  speaks  of  the  face,  the  visible 
presentment  of  this  mysterious  Personality. 

What  consideration  can  aid  our  endeavour  to  think  out 
for  ourselves  this  astounding  paradox  ?  What  hypothesis 
suggests  the  only  satisfactory  interpretation  of  this  tran- 
scendent manhood  ?     Who  can  tell  us  what  it  means  to  us  ? 

The  difference  between  the  other  great  men  of  the 
human  race  and  the  personality  of  the  Christ  is  so  vast  as 
to  be  immeasurable.  The  face  of  Buddha  or  Zerdusht,  of 
Confucius  or  Mohammed,  the  face  of  Socrates,  Aurelius, 
Francis,  or  Loyola  may  demand  long  and  careful  meditation, 
but  we  can  take  the  parallax  of  these  men.  Moses  and 
St.  Paul  himself  present  grand  themes  for  the  historic 
imagination,  but  they  do  not  confound  our  sense  of  pro- 
portion. W^e  are  not  intensely  anxious  to  learn  their  judg- 
ment upon  our  character  or  destiny.  But  a  restless  yearning 
arises  to  know  what  Jesus  thinks  of  us,  and  to  discover 
some  worthy  explanation  of  the  personality  of  the  Son  of 
Man.  We  are  resolved,  as  every  generation  before  ours 
has  resolved,  that  if  it  be  possible  we  will  find  out  what  the 
Christ  is,  what  the  Christ  thinks  of  our  life,  and  what  actual 
personal  relation  we  sustain  to  Him. 

The  various  solutions  that  have  been  hazarded  of  this 


<S       THE   KNOWLKDGE   OF   THE   GLORY  OF  GOD. 

amazing  problem  make  our  hearts  throb.  Our  own  genera- 
tion is  especially  rife  with  suggestions.  The  very  air  of 
this  nineteenth  century  is  as  full  of  them  as  was  that  of  the 
second  century.  The  Gnostic  and  Oriental  philosophy, 
Alexandrine  metaphysics,  mediaeval  scholasticism,  Western 
science,  the  speculations  of  Newtonians  and  Darwinians 
have  one  after  the  other  been  absorbed  with  the  tran- 
scendent theme.  No  age  can  afford  to  ignore  a  series  of 
facts  which  has  effected  an  undeniable  revolution  in  every 
department  of  life  and  thought  and  action. 

We  do  not  affect  to  deny  that  one  tendency  of  human 
thought,  from  the  first  century  to  our  own  day,  has  ignored  the 
difficulty  of  the  problem,  nor  that  many  have  said  Jesus  was 
the  production  of  His  own  age ;  that  He  was  the  evolution 
of  a  consummate  flower  upon  the  barren  stock  of  humanity. 
To  many,  He  was  simply  Judaism  or  Rabbinism  at  its  best. 
Others  add  that  Hellenic  wisdom  or  Oriental  exaggeration 
touched  the  memory  of  Jesus  with  a  mythical  lustre.  It  is 
supposed  by  some  that  the  law  of  evolution  will  account 
for  the  entire  manifestation,  and  for  all  the  history  of  the 
subsequent  influence  of  the  strange  meteoric  flash  of  His 
passing  across  the  stage  of  this  world. 

Much  that  was  once  thought  of  as  sporadic  or  super- 
natural has  undoubtedly  been  shown  to  be  the  natural 
outcome  of  previous  circumstances.  Yet  there  are  more 
mysteries  for  us  to-day  in  the  stellar  heavens  than  either 
Newton  or  Laplace  dreamed  of.  These  multiply  with 
every  fresh  organ  or  triumph  of  research.  The  passage 
from  nothing  to  something  still  confounds  the  disciple  of 
pre-organic  evolution.  The  advent  of  life  upon  the  planet, 
and  the  distance  between  the  highest  vertebrate  and  man, 
provoke  the  most    urgent    inquiry.     And  I    suppose   that 


THE  KNOWLEDGE   OF  THE  GLORY  OF  GOD.        9 

even  the  theistic  evolution  of  history  will  long  be  troubled 
with  a  few  facts  in  the  development  of  Christianity.  E.g.^ 
no  critics  hesitate  to  admit  that  Saul  the  persecutor  wrote 
these  weighty  words,  addressing  them  to  a  European  com- 
munity within  thirty  years  of  the  death  upon  the  cross  of 
Jesus  of  Nazareth.  That  bare  historic  fact  speaks  volumes. 
In  itself,  it  seems  to  me  to  be  as  startling  as  any  super- 
natural event  reported  in  Holy  Scripture. 

These  words  suggest,  however,  the  hypothesis  which 
satisfied  St.  Paul's  own  mind.  Nearly  nineteen  centuries 
of  infinitely  varied  experience  have  verified  the  intuition. 
The  supposition  was  this,  that  the  glory  of  God  was  visible 
IN  THE  FACE  OF  Jesus  Christ.  All  who  are  imperatively 
summoned  to  say  what  they  think  of  Christ,  come  more  or 
less  to  an  identical  conclusion. 

St.  Paul's  illustration  is  very  remarkable.  He  fastened 
upon  what  he  believed,  and  what  we  in  this  year  of  grace 
also  believe,  to  have  been  the  primal  act  of  Divine  energy, 
or  creative  might  and  wisdom,  when  ''light"  broke  on  the 
universal  darkness.  The  apostle  took  his  stand  beside  the 
author  of  Genesis.  He  saw  in  "  Holy  Light  .  .  .  since 
God  is  Light  .  .  .  Bright  effluence  of  Bright  Essence 
Increate."  No  lower  conception,  no  less  imposing  parallel 
satisfied  him.  He  boldly  declared  that  such  a  glory  of 
God  beamed  from  the  face,  and  could  alone  interpret  the 
personality  of  Jesus. 

St.  Paul  comforted  and  warned  the  Corinthians  by 
assuming  that  they  with  him  had  discovered  in  the  face  of 
Christ,  power  and  purpose,  character  and  claim  answering 
to  their  loftiest  ideal  of  what  is  to  be  worshipped  and 
glorified.  An  abashed  sense  of  irresistible  power  dazzled 
and  overwhelmed  him.     The  awful  purity  of  the  eternal 


10     THE  KNOWLEDGE  OF  THE  GLORY   OF  GOD. 

essence  radiated  from  the  human  Hfe  and  death  of  Jesus, 
and  smote  him  with  an  idea  of  righteousness  more  intense 
than  any  formal  law  or  moral  principle.  The  capacity  of 
Christ  to  meet  all  the  needs  and  peril  of  all  men  enchanted 
him.  The  manifestation  of  an  appaUing  and  bewildering 
self-sacrifice  entranced  and  captivated  him,  bought  him 
over  to  a  life-long  service.  The  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
though  fashioned  into  human  speech,  embraced  infinitely 
varied  suggestions,  condensing  the  highest  moral  wisdom, 
transcending  the  resources  of  the  schools,  and  seeming  to 
be  not  the  wisdom  only,  but  the  very  word  of  the  living 
God.  This  wisdom,  though  on  its  human  side  and  in  its 
human  form  limited,  yet  connoted  an  inward  basis  which 
was  possessed  of  all  the  characteristics  of  infinity.  More 
than  this,  the  love  of  Christ  was  nothing  short  of  the 
love  of  God,  and  it  constrained  him.  Through  Christ,  Paul 
felt  that  he  got  right  up  to  God  Himself.  This  love  wrought 
upon  his  heart  with  all  the  sweetness  of  human  affection,  of 
surpassing  gentleness,  of  healing  and  forgiving  grace  and 
benign  sympathy,  yet,  so  far  as  he,  Paul,  was  concerned,  it 
dealt  directly  with  the  moral  conscience,  and  appealed  to 
the  God-consciousness. 

St.  Paul  was  acquainted  with  Oriental  incarnations, 
which  overpowered  and  demolished  the  human  shrines  in 
which  tlicy  were  supposed  to  dwell ;  but  here  was  the  glory 
of  the  Infinite  God  flashing  in  the  face  of  One  who  had 
lived  and  died  and  risen  again  among  men.  Western 
apotheoses  were  common  enough  in  the  views  of  Roman 
centurions  or  Greek  sophists,  but  they  only  broke  up  the 
very  idea  of  God  into  a  rabble  of  Deities.  If  Gr^eco- 
Roman  fashion  called  a  philosopher,  a  physician,  a  court 
favourite,  an  imperial  Augustus  "  God,"'  the  process  merely 


'  THE  KNOWLEDGE  OF  THE  GLORY  OF  GOD.   II 

degraded  and  silenced  the  conscience,  bandied  profane 
compliments,  and  lowered  the  very  conception  of  God 
Himself  into  a  blasphemous  superlative  for  the  use  of  the 
market,  the  camp,  or  the  schools ;  but  here^  i?t  the  face  of 
Jesus  Christ,  was  a  conception  which  was  more  than  all  the 
legendary  incarnations,  more  than  all  the  political  deifica- 
tions current  in  St.  Paul's  day.  He  who  first  commanded 
light  to  shine  out  of  darkness,  i.e.  the  absolute  Eternal 
God,  had  caused  His  own  glory  to  shine  from  the  face  of 
Jesus  Christ,  on  a  darkness  deeper  than  primaeval  chaos. 
This  brings  to  us  the  central  word  of  this  remarkable 
sentence. 

St.  Paul  does  not  say  that  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of 
Jesus  Christ  has  illumined  the  world.  His  position  is  that 
the  Eternal,  *'who  commanded  light  to  shine  out  of  darkness, 
has  shined  in  our  hearts,  to  give  the  illumination  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ." 
We  have  therefore  two  themes — (i)  the  knowledge  of  the 
glory;  (2)  the  light  or  illumination  beaming  forth  from  such 
knowledge. 

The  heavens  declared  the  glory  of  God  during  untold 
millenniums ;  but,  so  far  as  man  is  concerned,  the  world 
waited  for  the  eyes  which  could  see  it  and  the  lips  which 
could  speak  of  it  to  their  fellows. 

Truth  is  the  realization  by  men  of  fiict.  The  fact  of 
the  glory  of  God  must  be  realized  as  a  thought  by  some 
human  minds  before  it  can  become  the  light  of  all  our 
seeing. 

Granted  that  the  deepest  essence  of  God,  the  highest 
revelation  of  His  nature  gleamed  from  the  dying  face  of 
Jesus,  still  the  eye  of  faith  and  love  must  catch  sight  of  the 
glory,  transform    it  into  thought  ani  word,  before  it  can 


12      THE  KNOWLEDGE  OF  THE  GLORY  OF  GOD. 

illumine  the  darkness  of  human  destiny.  Revelation  here 
follows  all  the  law  of  Divine  education  of  the  race.  God  has 
taught  mankind  by  the  great  divisions  of  the  human  family. 
These,  again,  have  been  illumined  by  the  special  vision  and 
intuition  of  a  few  elect  souls,  who  have  seen  into  the  mysteries 
of  nature,  into  the  depths  of  the  heart,  into  the  meaning 
of  history,  and  clothed  their  thoughts  in  words.  They 
have  believed,  and  they  have  spoken.  Their  words  have 
been  light,  and  bread  of  life,  and  water  of  life  to  their 
brethren.  Thanks  be  to  God  !  Human  eyes  have  per- 
ceived, human  hearts  have  conceived,  human  lips  have  told 
what  they  saw  of  the  glory  of  the  Only  Begotten  of  the 
Father.  They  absorbed  the  glory  ;  they  have  been  changed 
into  the  same  image  from  glory  to  glory.  They  have, 
by  their  knowledge  of  the  glory,  become  lights  in  the 
world. 

The  knowledge  of  the  glory  is  indispensable  to  us  all. 
The  almost  intolerable  magnificence  of  the  sky  is  lavished 
upon  us  by  day  and  night  from  generation  to  generation ; 
yet  how  few  form  the  faintest  conception  of  its  meaning. 
Nature  is  a  sealed  book  to  the  enormous  majority  of  the 
human  family,  who  pass  across  its  stage  and  neither  see  nor 
know.  So  God's  unveiling  of  Himself  in  Christ  falls  often 
upon  eyes  that  are  veiled  and  blinded  and  do  not  see  nor 
know.  The  prophetic  hope  of  the  Church  is  that  a  day  is 
coming  when  no  one  shall  have  need  to  "  say  to  his  brother, 
*  Know  the  Lord,'  for  all  shall  know  Him,"  and  "the  know- 
ledge of  the  Lord  shall  cover  the  earth."  Every  eye  shall 
be  opened,  and  shall  see  Him  before  long.  Meanwhile,  the 
most  urgent  work  of  the  Church  is  to  open  men's  eyes, 
and  to  compel  old  and  young,  wise  and  unwise,  to  see 
this  great  glory,  to  look  and  live. 


THE   KNOWLEDGE   OF   THE   GLORY    OF    GOD.      1 3 

^'eriIy  no  one  set  form  of  words  can  do  more  than 
make  a  faint  approximation  to  all  the  reality ;  yet  all 
theology  consists  of  etitbrts  to  put  into  form  the  supreme 
fact  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ. 

This   has   been   by   no   means   an   easy   task.     Other 
thoughts   and   other  knowledge   have  threatened  this  new 
thought  with    annihilation.     Thus,   c.^.,    in   grasping   this 
supreme  and  illuminating  fact  of  the  incarnation  of  God 
in   Christ,   men    have    had    to    encounter    two    positions 
which  were  more  fundamental  still — the  unity  of  God  and 
the   perfect  humanity  of  Jesus.     Neither   of  these   truths 
could  be  surrendered.     The  Jirs^  is  the  most  certain  dictum 
of  the  moral  conscience,  and  of  the   highest  philosophy, 
and  is  the  grandest  tradition  of  our  race  :  and  the  second 
is   the   stupendous   fact,  the   quality   of  which   has   given 
rise  to  the  overwhelming  conviction  of  the  early  believers, 
that  God  was  in  Christ,  and  the  Word  was  made  flesh  in 
Him.     Yet  it  must  be  conceded  that  the  vast  conception, 
that  "  the  Word  was  made  flesh  "  in  Christ,  and  that  "  He 
took  up  His  tabernacle  "  with  men,  and  that  they  ^'  beheld 
His  glory,"  and  saw  that   it  was  ''  the  glory  of  the  only 
begotten    Son    of    God,    a   fulness   of   grace   and   truth," 
somewhat   confounded   and   imperilled   their   faith   in   the 
Divine  Unity,  and  in  the  perfect  humanity  of  the  Lord 
Jesus.      Sometimes  they  expressed   themselves  so   loosely 
that  their  enemies  charged  them  with  hero-worship  akin  to 
that  which  they  were  summoning  an  idolatrous  world  to 
relinquish.     Their  answer  was  that  the  glory  of  God  was 
effulgently  beaming  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ.     Then  the 
reply  was  that  they  must  be  splitting  up  their  idea  of  God 
into   that  of  two  or  more  Gods  of  different  degrees  and 
faculties.     This   charge  was  vehemently  repelled  by  those 


14  THE  KNOWLEDGE  OF  THE  GLORY  OF  GOD. 

who  knew  that  the  unity  of  God  was  the  prime  anchor 
of  their  faith  and  their  morals,  the  only  safeguard  against  a 
widespread  dualism,  and  a  reality  for  the  confession  of 
which  they  were  ready  to  sacrifice  life. 

Yet  in  repudiating  a  mere  hero-worship,  on  the  one 
hand,  or  any  form  of  polytheism  on  the  other,  the  early 
believers  refused  to  blend  the  human  and  Divine  in  their 
thought  of  Christ,  into  a  tcrtluin  quid^  that  was  neither 
Divine  nor  human- — not  human  enough  to  understand  our 
experience,  nor  Divine  enough  to  create  and  save. 

What,  then,  was  the  problem  which  was  set  before  them  ? 
They  found,  in  their  effort  to  kuoiv  the  glory  of  God  in  the 
face  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  they  must  simply  state  all  the 
facts  that  were  indubitable  to  them.  The  speculative 
puzzles  and  theories  were  one  by  one  laid  aside,  and  they 
boldly  resolved  to  take  their  stand  on  the  facts  w^ithout 
solving  the  mystery. 

This  kind  of  "knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God"  is  not 
unhke   the   knowledge   of  the   facts  of  gravitation.     The 
generalization,   in  which  modern  philosophy  rests  calmly, 
does  not  expound  the  mystery  nor  explain  the  nature  of  the 
force  which  accounts  for  the  falling  of  a  leaf  and  the  shape 
of  a  tear,  for  the  swing  of  the  pendulum  and  the  motions  of 
the  sateUites,  but  it  states  the  operation  of  one  great  and 
universal  law  of  the  relations  of  matter  to  itself.     In  like 
manner  the  Christian  consciousness  finds,  without  solving 
the  mystery  of  the  relation  of  the  Infinite  and  Finite,  that 
it   does   not   dare   to   relinquish   any  of  the  facts  of  this 
sublime  synthesis,    and   strives   to  express   them    all — the 
unity  of  the  Godhead,  the  humanity  of  Jesus,  the  Divinity 
of  the  Christ,  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face 
of  Jesus  the  Christ. 


THE  KNOWLEDGE  OF  THE  GLORY  OE  GOD.  1 5 

Doubtless,  there  are  still  and  always  have  been  those  who, 
while  accepting  some  one  or  more  of  these  factors,  disregard 
the  rest.  Thus,  at  the  present  moment,  there  are  many  lofty 
spirits  who  so  far  deviate  from  this  knowledge  that  they  are 
content  with  the  subUme  ideal  of  character,  of  self-sacrifice, 
of  humanity  which  Jesus  has  left  as  His  legacy  to  the  world. 
They  accept  some  of  His  teaching  concerning  both  God 
and  man.  They  rightly  believe  it  to  be  the  most  lofty  and 
veracious  which  has  been  uttered  in  this  world,  and  they 
even  transfer  to  the  world's  idea  of  "  the  Father,"  thoughts 
which  are  only  possible  to  the  Church  as  inferences  derived 
from  the  incarnation  of  God  in  Him.  The  Christ  is  thus 
impoverished  by  them,  and  the  idea  of  the  Father  is  built 
up  of  unproved  ipse-dixiis^  against  which  our  modern  science 
of  nature  and  our  ethical  pessimism  easily  prevail.  The 
light  of  the  knowledge  of  Jesus,  as  He  was  eighteen 
hundred  years  ago,  is  certainly  brighter  than  the  light  of  the 
knowledge  of  Buddha,  of  Socrates,  or  of  Marcus  AureHus  ; 
but  if  it  be  of  the  same  character  or  kind,  it  leaves  us  always 
at  liberty  to  repudiate  it,  or  search  for  what  is  better.  The 
humanity  alone  -is  insufficient  to  explain  the  history  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ. 
The  Eternal  has  drawn  near  men  in  that  wondrous  Per- 
sonality. Their  destiny  is  proclaimed  by  those  loving  lips. 
Heaven  blazes  forth  upon  them  in  that  face.  His  word  is 
eternal  truth.  Their  knowledge  is  to  them  the  Eternal  Life 
itself.    Because  they  know  that  He  lives,  they  live  also. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  there  are  those — and  they  have 
been  far  more  numerous — who  have  so  dwelt  upon  the 
Divine  element  in  the  Christ,  have  so  sunned  themselves  in 
the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  Jesus,  the 
Saviour,  the   Brother,    the   sympathizing   Friend,   the   one 


l6  THE  KNOWLEDGE  OF  THE  GLORY  OF  GOD. 

Mediator  between  God  and  man,  has  been  practically 
ignored.  One  issue  has  been  that  they  have  reincarnated 
His  Godhead  in  that  of  His  virgin  mother.  We  glorify  God 
in  the  mighty  function  ascribed  to  this  vessel  of  grace,  and 
declare,  with  angels  and  saints,  that  she  is  "blessed  among 
women ; "  but  the  very  cause  and  glory  of  God  in  the 
incarnation  seem  pitilessly  shorn  of  their  lustre  by  lifting 
another  into  the  place  which  the  Divine  Son  has  never 
deserted.  If,  by  fiUing  our  eyes  with  the  Deity  of  His 
Person,  wc  virtually  lose  thus  the  true  humanity  of  Jesus, 
we  sacrifice  one  prime  factor  in  our  knowledge  of  the  glory 
of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  is  all  and  infinitely 
more  to  us  than  we  have  any  reason  for  believing  that  she 
or  any  other  of  His  saints  can  be. 

Again,  if  we  forego  our  hold  on  the  union  between  the 
Man  Christ  Jesus  and  the  Eternal  Son  of  God,  our  ideas  of 
both  have  a  strange  propensity  to  part  asunder,  and  we  are 
practically,  as  well  as  theoretically,  left  to  a  mere  humanity 
of  Christ  on  the  one  side,  and  to  an  inaccessible  Deity  on 
the  other.  The  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face 
of  Jesus  Christ, — such  "  knowledge,"  indeed,  as  in  our  weak- 
ness and  helplessness  we  can  frame — becomes  a  compendium 
of  the  entire  revelation  of  God.  The  excellency  of  it 
transcends  that  of  all  otlier  knowledge.  In  it  we  realize 
facts  about  God  and  man,  about  perfection  and  corruption, 
about  sin  and  redemption,  about  eternity  and  time,  and 
about  the  blending  of  the  two,  about  the  possibilities  of  life 
and  the  real  significance  of  death,  which  surpass  all  other 
Licts,  all  other  teaching.  AVe  grasp  them  in  their  simplest 
form  by  pondering  the  life  of  Jesus,  by  waiting  near  His 
cross,  and  by  the  powers  of  holy  responsive  love.  A  little 
child  can  accept  the  revelation.    ''  Even  so,  Father,  for  thus 


THE   KNOWLEDGE   OF   THE   GLORY    OF    GOD.     1 7 

it  seemed  good  in  Thy  sight !  "  Often  concealed  from  wise 
and  prudent  ones,  it  is  unveiled  to  babes.  The  longest 
human  life,  the  most  intense  religious  experience,  avails  to 
fill  up  a  portion  only  of  the  outline  which  is  given  at  once 
to  childlike  faith ;  and  the  noblest  of  the  apostles,  at  the 
close  of  his  martyrlike  ministry,  counted  all  things  but  loss 
that  he  might  know  Him. 

The  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus 
Christ  can  only  be  faintly  expressed  in  any  form  of  words. 
Neither  logic  nor  poetry,  neither  history  nor  theology,  can 
express  the  fulness  of  this  vast  perception.  Our  worship, 
our  sacraments,  our  self-sacrifice  in  the  greatest  cause,  our 
Church  hfe,  are  only  the  steps,  the  instruments  by  which 
this  wisdom  of  the  truly  wise  is  ever  growing  to  maturity. 
Our  wanderings  and  perils,  our  failures  and  fears,  reveal  the 
heart  and  the  power  of  the  Shepherd  of  souls.  The  sins 
which  we  have  committed,  the  new  vistas  into  the  universe 
and  into  eternity  which  open  day  by  day,  the  novel  enter- 
prises to  which  we  are  called,  all  find  encouragement  or 
caution  in  this  vast  conception,  one  which  brings  God 
Himself,  in  all  His  holiness  and  His  gentleness,  in  all  His 
majesty  and  His  mercy,  so  awfully,  so  tenderly  near  to  our 
hearts. 


c-6 


THE  LIGHT  OF  THE  KNOWLEDGE 
OF   THE   GLORY   OF   GOD. 


Preaclud  ill  November,  1891,  at  E /a man  11  el  Congreg-atioiial  Churchy 
Camhriii(:e. 


THE  LIGHT  OF  THE  KNOWLEDGE 
OF  THE  GLORY  OF  GOD. 

"  The  light  [the  illumination]  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God 
in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ." — 2  CoR.  iv.  6. 

'^  The  entrance  of  Thy  word  giveth  light."  The  transfor- 
mation into  thought,  of  the  blended  glory  and  sympathy, 
the  interwoven  majesty  and  tenderness,  of  the  Christ  has 
created  a  new  dawn  in  the  mid-day  of  nature. 

The  light  brighter  than  the  sun  which  broke  over  the 
consciousness  of  St.  Paul  on  his  way  to  Damascus  illu- 
mined every  truth  which  he  had  already  made  his  own. 
It  reversed  for  him  the  highest  wisdom  of  the  past,  and 
cancelled  his  inheritance  in  the  privileges  and  pride  of 
centuries.  The  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face 
of  Jesus  Christ  became  so  brilliant  an  illumination,  threw 
such  floods  of  light  on  deep  problems,  on  obscure  and  un- 
suspected places  of  thought  and  of  human  experience^  that 
he  found  himself  in  a  new  world,  with  new  ideas  of  all 
things  in  heaven  and  earth,  in  time  and  eternity. 

St.  Paul  was  not  alone  in  this  matter.  Every  mind  that 
has  so  far  followed  the  apostle  as  to  kiiow  God  in  Christy 
has  g;one  through  a  like  experience.  The  effect  of  the 
glare  of  light  which  thus  illumines  life  differs  with  us  all  in 


22  THE  LIGHT  OF   THE  KNOWLEDGE 

accordance  with  our  previous  circumstances.  The  more 
than  meteoric  splendour  which  breaks  upon  some  minds  in 
the  advent  of  knowledge  touching  tliis  supreme  fact  in  the 
history  of  the  world  has  in  some  periods  so  stimulated  the 
understanding  of  mankind  that  those  who  saw  it  could  do 
little  else  than  try  and  formulate  it,  or  endeavour  to  reduce 
the  sublime  synthesis  to  some  form  of  creed.  During 
hundreds  of  years,  men  could  not  rest  in  the  light.  It 
waked  them  so  completely  from  their  dreams,  that  it  might 
seem  they  had  forgotten  the  power  of  the  light  itself  in  their 
restless  efforts  to  fit  it  into  their  previous  scheme  of  the 
universe.  This  was  not  all  the  truth,  however.  New  light 
meant  new  life.  New  life  meant  a  strange  power,  and  a 
peace  which  passed  understanding.  So  that,  while  the 
philosophers  and  the  councils  were  fighting  about  the  way 
in  which  they  could  adequately  express  the  relation  of  the 
Father  and  Son,  and  the  relation  of  Jesus  to  both,  hundreds, 
thousands  were  content  to  die  for  their  Lord,  and  were 
bravely  defying  all  the  power  of  Roman  courts,  all  the 
refinements  of  heathen  malice,  and  all  the  cruelty  of  mur- 
derous mobs.  They  were  following  the  Lamb  whitherso- 
ever He  led  them,  to  prison  and  to  death,  and  triumphing 
over  both  with  songs  of  deliverance. 

Sometimes  the  very  same  men  who  were  most  active  in 
the  intellectual  endeavour  to  analyze  the  light,  were  also 
able  to  bear  with  sublime  and  saintly  patience  the  uttermost 
cruelty  of  pagan  hatred,  and  the  desperate  outbreaks  of 
partisan  intolerance.  So  through  all  the  centuries,  theo- 
logical intensity  has  not  always  strangled,  but  rather 
stimulated,  moral  heroism  and  missionary  enterprise. 

Some  special  epochs  have  been  sharply  characterized  by 
the  endeavour  to  criticize  and  refine  theological  forms ;  and 


OF   THE   GLORY    OF  GOD.  23 

Others,  again,  by  the  tendency  to  ignore  the  intellectual 
side  of  Christianity,  and  even  to  abandon  great  truths  for 
ethical  enthusiasm,  or  for  altruistic  or  ascetic  devotion. 
Every  generation  has  its  own  main  feature,  and  perhaps  the 
most  dominant  sign  of  these  times  is  a  revolt  against 
theology,  and  an  unwillingness  to  trace  the  connection 
between  the  truth  and  the  life.  Surely,  my  brethren,  this 
light,  this  illumination  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of 
God  in  the  face  of  the  Christ,  is  not  to  be  simply  gazed  at 
with  sharpened  eyes  of  scientific  or  metaphysic  subtlety,  but 
it  is  to  be  lived  by ;  and  we  have  not  merely  to  look,  but  to 
live. 

Any  attempt  to  exhaust  such  a  theme  is  futile,  but  it 
may  help  some  of  you  to  higher  life  and  deeper  peace,  if  we 
dwell  on  a  few  of  the  spheres  of  human  thought  and  experi^ 
ence  upon  which  the  glory  of  this  light  falls. 

I.  It  illumines  all  the  facts  and  laws  of  nature.  The  cross 
of  Christ  provides  a  new  observatory  of  the  universe.  The 
heavens  have  a  new  meaning  to  us,  for,  if  Christ  be  what 
He  says  that  He  is.  He  is  more  and  greater  than  they ;  and 
the  death  of  the  Son  of  God  means  more  to  us  than  if  we 
saw  the  whole  constellation  of  Orion,  with  all  its  suns  and 
nebulas,  blotted  from  the  skies. 

We,  like  our  brethren  in  ancient  times  in  the  far  East, 
who  brooded  over  the  vastness  of  the  universe,  and  shrank 
abashed  from  the  measureless  extent  of  time  and  space, 
until  they  lost  themselves,  and  felt  that  they  were  but  help- 
less waves  passing  over  the  bosom  of  a  boundless  sea, — we, 
like  them,  have  sometimes  extinguished  our  sense  of  respon- 
sibility, and  have  drugged  ourselves  to  silence  and  repose, 
while  insatiable  desires  have  been,  vulture-like,  gnawing  at 
our  heart.     The  vastness  of  things,  the  majestic  sweep  and 


24  THE   LIGHT   OF   THE   KNOWLEDGE 

awful  persistence  of  force,  the  interminable  and  unconquer- 
able millenniums  of  continuous  activity  have  confounded  and 
oppressed  us,  as  they  did  our  fathers.  Neither  they  nor  we 
have  been  able  to  bear  these  things. 

Do  we  not  turn  from  these  considerations,  as  our  eyes 
do  from  the  unveiled  disk  of  the  sun  at  noon?  Are  we 
not,  with  our  sense  of  the  infinity  of  being,  often  baffled  and 
crushed  into  helplessness  and  recklessness?  Do  we  not 
seem  veritably  poised  on  the  verge  of  bottomless  precipices, 
with  our  sensibility  quickened  to  morbid  intensity,  asking 
day  by  day,  and  sometimes  moment  by  moment,  "  O  Infinite 
All  in  One,  what  am  I  ?  whence  have  I  come?  whither  am  I 
going  ?  and  how  can  I  bear  to  plunge  me  into  this  fathom- 
less abyss  for  an  eternal  8eon  of  aeons  without  some  answers 
to  these  queries,  without  some  voice  to  soothe  my  breaking 
heart?" 

Philosophy  has  often  tried  to  answer  such  throbbing 
questions  by  dogmatically  forcing  upon  us  the  sacrifice  of 
self  altogether,  or  by  the  endeavour  to  do  that  impossible 
thing — think  our  ego  out  of  all  existence.  Again,  ingenious 
speculations,  like  Pascal's  or  Chalmers',  have  bidden  us  find 
rest  in  the  revelations  of  the  infinitely  little,  where  the  grace 
and  power  of  the  Creator  is  also  manifested,  world  within 
world,  atomy  within  atomy,  for  ever.  To  some  minds  this 
is  a  cold  bath  of  refreshment,  but  to  the  majority  of  us  it 
gives  but  momentary  relief.  We  do  find,  indeed,  that  in 
little  things,  in  invisible  points,  in  infinitesimal  vibrations, 
the  great  things  of  the  universe  are  effected,  and  in  the 
tiniest  spheres  the  mightiest  forces  of  the  infinite,  unknow- 
able reality  are  perpetually  working.  But  oh,  the  enchant- 
ment of  this  discovery  becomes  a  new  agony  !  There 
is    to  these  thoughts,  when  once   we  are  in  their  clutch, 


OF   THE   GLORY   OF  GOD.  25 

no  relief  either  from  science,  or  common  sense,  or  from 
manly  fortitude,  from  either  robust  conscience  or  old- 
world  maxims,  from  the  tyranny  of  modern  phrase  or 
forward  movements,  or  any  other  idol  of  the  forum ; 
but  surely  even  we  may  rise  above  them  and  fairly  grapple 
with  them  if  once  we  realize  that  the  Word  of  God 
has  been  made  flesh,  if  it  be  a  fact  that  the  Eternal  Life 
has  been  manifested  and  given  to  us  in  the  Son  of  God. 
If  we  have  come  to  know  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of 
Jesus  Christ,  we  have  in  Him  verily  come  to  the  centre 
of  infinite  space  and  eternal  time.  This  high  conception 
has  transmuted  our  sense  of  terror  into  one  of  comparative 
repose.  The  highest  light  has  produced  the  deepest  peace. 
If  the  most  august  perfections  and  powers  and  all  the  glory 
of  God  flash  upon  us  in  the  smile  of  Jesus,  we  cry  from  the 
depths  of  our  heart,  ''  My  Lord  and  my  God  ! "  He  who 
dwelt  for  ever  in  the  bosom  of  God  is  absolutely  one  with 
Him  who  took  the  children  in  His  arms,  and  hushed  the 
storm  and  snatched  the  crown  of  hell  and  broke  the  spell 
of  death.  "Thanks  be  to  God  who  giveth  us  the  victory 
through  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ !  "  This  is  one  part  of  the 
illumination  ;  and  one  secret  of  the  work  of  Christ  is  to 
familiarize  us  with  the  eternity  to  which  we  belong,  to  lead 
us  by  our  union  to  Him  up  to  the  prime  centre  of  it  all. 

2.  The  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of 
Christ  illumines  and  enlarges  and  deepens  our  idea  of 
God. 

The  least  sympathetic  thinkers  are  ready  to  admit,  that 
the  best  and  most  restful  concepts  of  Deity  were  originated 
by  Jesus.  But  we  go  far  beyond  this,  for  if  we  know  that 
the  human  personality  of  Jesus  Christ  is  the  best  and  the 
truest  revelation  of  the  Father,  the  torment  and  unrest  of  a 


26  THE  LIGHT  OF   THE   KNOWLEDGE 

hundred  generations  are  absolutely  stilled.  We  discerr^ 
not  only  the  image  of  God  in  the  human  heart  and  will, 
but  the  surest  revelation  of  God  in  the  highest  type  of  man. 
In  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  Christ,  the 
Almighty  comes  forth  from  the  cloud  and  darkness  in 
which  our  feebleness  of  vision  has  enwrapped  Him,  and 
comes  close  to  us.  We  know  Kim  and  are  known  of  Him. 
Direct  intercourse  with  Him  becomes  feasible,  and  the 
inaccessible  light  shines  with  gentle  lustre  on  our  mysterious 
pathway.  The  cry,  "  Father  forgive  them,"  is  the  whisper  of 
the  eternal  love.  The  summons,  "  Come  unto  Me,"  is  a 
voice  from'the  excellent  glory.  The  shout,  "  It  is  finished," 
rends  the  veil  of  the  eternal  temple  from  the  top  to  the 
bottom.  By  believing  in  Him,  wc  find  ourselves  in  the 
holy  place,  in  the  Father's  house,  in  the  mansions  prepared 
for  us  from  before  the  foundation  of  the  world. 

3.  But  the  illumination  of  this  knowledge  gives  a  new 
meaning  to  the  whole  of  human  life.  Herein  and  hereby, 
we  see  the  highest  possibilities  of  man.  Human  nature 
is  redeemed  by  its  Head,  and  all  the  ways  and  types  of  our 
humanity  are  strangely  changed  by  the  realization  of  Divine 
glory  in  the  ideal  of  it.  Truth  itself  about  God  and  man  is 
transfigured.  Justice  is  seen  melting  into  love.  All  beauty, 
all  virtue,  all  that  is  praiseworthy,  all  that  is  urged  upon  us  by 
the  imperative  of  conscience  is  read  off  afresh.  We  take 
new  inspirations  to  crur  study  of  nature,  and  new  motives 
to  every  act  of  our  life.  Beholding  as  in  a  mirror  of 
perfect  adequacy  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  we  are  changed 
into  the  same  image  from  glory  to  glory ;  we  drink  of  the 
river  of  the  pleasures  of  God  and  we  are  satisfied. 

4.  Further,  while  such  a  revelation  of  what  man  may 
become  and  ought  to  be  maizes  evident  to  us  the  difference 


OF   THE   GLORY   OF   GOD.  2/ 

between  what  is  possible  and  what  is  actiiai,  we  obtain  the 
most  terrible  disclosure  of  the  nature  of  sin,  and  the  only 
light  which  makes  it  tolerable.  Our  first  religious  ideas 
have  often  proved  to  be  a  sense  of  conflict  with  God.  The 
conviction  haunts  us  that  we  have  broken  with  the  Almighty ; 
that  we  have  forfeited  all  hold  upon  Divine  protection ;  that 
we  have  wilfully  entangled  ourselves  in  the  consequences  of 
broken  law ;  that  we  have  incurred  the  issues,  which  no 
obedience,  no  penitence,  no  sacrifice  of  ours  can  remit  or 
remove.  The  sense  of  evil,  of  increased  severance  from 
God,  and  the  sense  of  coming  doom  are  forced  upon  us  by 
conscience  and  by  the  sense  of  desert. 

Numerous  and  strenuous  efforts  have  been  made  by  our 
fathers  and  brethren  in  many  ages  and  generations  to  put 
themselves  right  with  God.  These  futile  endeavours  have 
constituted  the  pathetic  story  of  the  world  and  of  the 
religious  life. 

Moreover,  the  prince  of  this  world  boldly  offers  us 
his  favour  and  solace,  such  as  they  are.  Many  voices 
round  about  us  are  minimizing  our  fault,  and  promising 
to  exculpate  our  guilt  and  exonerate  the  transgressor. 
Numerous  duties,  innocent  amusements,  and  necessary 
business  do  for  a  while  distract  attention  from  the  fact. 
Agnostic  utterances  will  sometimes  obliterate  the  appalling 
sense  of  sin,  and  pride  will  whisper  that  we,  after  all,  are 
not  as  other  men  :  and  yet  the  guilty  conscience  is  not 
appeased. 

There  are  those,  on  the  other  hand,  who  confidently 
assure  our  trembling  spirits  that  they  can  pardon  our  offences, 
or  guarantee  our  future.  But  though  the  morbid  growth  of 
self-complacency  or  the  promises  of  the  priest  may  for  a  while 
produce  a  seeming  peace,  neither  knife  nor  anodyne  stay  the 


28  THE   LIGHT   OF   THE   KNOWLEDGE 

progress  of  the  disease.  The  sins  of  youth  or  of  later  days 
hunt  down  or  come  up  with  the  transgressor.  The  paUia- 
tions  of  pride,  of  courage,  of  deceit,  cease  to  console,  the 
distractions  of  life  fail  to  divert  contemplation.  The  bowl 
is  broken  at  the  fountain  of  pleasure,  and  fear,  like  an 
armed  avenger,  confronts  the  naked  soul. 

But,  my  brethren,  when  we  see  the  glory  of  God  as  the 
true  and  only  solution  of  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,  even 
when  He  agonizes  on  the  cross,  we  find  then  that  a  new 
light  has  shone  upon  the  fiery  filthy  wound  of  our  nature. 
This  light  is  infinitely  piercing  and  infinitely  sympathetic. 
We  do  not  cease  or  lose  our  wrath  against  sin — God  forbid  ! 
— nor  do  we  minimize  its  blame.  We  find  it  has  slain  Him 
and  we  enter  into  God's  wrath  against  our  sin.  In  our  self- 
despair  we  find  His  unmerited  pardon.  We  vanquish  our 
fear  because  the  pardon  which  He  speaks  is  the  principle  of 
a  new  life.  Our  sins  are  not  covered  up  ;  they  are  more 
conspicuous  than  ever  in  the  blaze  of  the  glory  of  God 
which  radiates  from  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,  but,  since  they 
are  the  enemies  and  crucifiers  of  our  dearest  Friend,  they  are 
renounced.  The  new  knowledge  is  a  light  which  reveals 
emancipation  from  the  curse,  because  we  know  that  in  our 
pardon  an  infinite  expression  has  been  given  to  the  wrath 
of  God  against  sin. 

Nor  need  we  ask  any  theologian,  or  any  priest,  or  any 
philosopher  to  tell  us  Jioiv  viuch  of  virtue,  or  obedience, 
or  self-denial,  or  aversion  to  sin  is  necessary,  nor  how 
many  prayers  or  Communions  we  should  make,  nor  how 
many  acts  of  kindness  we  should  perform,  nor  how  many 
propositions  we  should  assent  to.  We  eat  the  flesh  and 
drink  the  blood  of  the  Son  of  CJod ;  we  dare,  poor  sinners 
that  we  are,  to  smile  through  our  tears,  because  the  liciht 


OF  THE  GLORY  OF   GOD.  29 

of  the  knowledge  of  an  infinite  righteousness  and  of  an 
eternal  love  is  perfect  peace. 

5.  The  light  of  this  knowledge  falls  on  the  otherwise 
insoluble  mystery  of  sorrow.  I  will  not  try  to  establish  this 
mystery,  or  pourtray  the  dark  shadow,  or  weigh  the  burden 
of  life.  We  all  know  it  by  bitter  loss  and  pain.  Still,  there 
are  many  ways  in  which  men  seek  explanation  of  it  or 
deliverance  from  it.  Rivals  to  Christ  as  the  great  Consolator 
loudly  proclaim  their  own  potency.  Some  are  persuading 
us  to  absorb  ourselves  with  duties,  and  forget  our  sorrows. 
Pleasures  and  niceties  and  novelties  are  suggested.  We 
are  bidden  to  conquer  the  pain  of  bereavement  by  a  new 
diversion.  AVe  are  told  to  make  a  manly  conquest  of  a 
morbid  emotion,  and  that  Time  will  dull  the  edge  of  our 
grief.  Well,  the  great  world  is  partially  successful;  but  when 
we  come  into  the  light  of  this  knowledge  of  the  God-Man,  a 
new  meaning  is  given  to  our  sorrow  and  to  all  sorrow.  The 
wide-spread  incidence  of  human  grief  may  silence  our  wail, 
as  in  the  Buddhist  legend,  but  it  will  not  touch  the  secret 
of  our  agony.^  But,  once  we  permit  this  light  to  shine  upon 
our  darkness,  we  find  ourselves  called  into  the  fellowship  of 
the  Son  of  God,  and  we  are  reconciled. 

A  myriad  of  hearts  broken  beyond  all  human  mending 
or  time-healing  have  come  into  the  fellowship  of  the  sufi'er- 
ings  of  Christ,  have  taken  up  His  cross,  to  bear  it  after 
Him,  and  they  have  sung  in  the  valley  of  their  humiliation— 

"Thy  way,  not  mine,  O  Lord, 
However  dark  it  be  !  " 

*  "  What  medicine  is  there,"  a  bereaved  mother  asked  of  Gautama, 
"for  my  dead  child?"  "I  know  of  some.  I  require,"  said  he,  "a 
handful  of  mustard-seed  taken  from  a  house  where  no  son,  husband, 
parent,  or  slave,  has  died."  Thus  she  learned  that  '*  the  living  are  few 
but  the  dead  are  many." — "  Buddhaghosa's  Parable!^,"  p.  108.  Trans- 
lated from  Burmese  by  Captain  Rogers. 


30  THE  LIGHT   OF  THE   KNOWLEDGE 

and  so  the  sorrow  of  the  bitterest  humihation,  the  torture  of 
severest  pain,  the  threat  of  despair,  and  all  the  spectres  of 
doubt  have  vanished  like  dreams  of  the  night  when  morning 
breaks.  My  brethren,  will  you  not  allow  this  supreme 
truth  to  shine  into  your  heart  ?  and,  if  you  feel  the  mighty 
secret,  Avill  you  not  take  up  the  failing  chorus,  and  proclaim 
to  others  the  magic  of  the  solace  that  it  gives  ? 

6.  The  heaviest  mystery  of  all  pain  is  the  silence  of  ojtr 
dead.  No  trouble  is  so  great,  so  deep  as  this.  When  the 
veil  falls  we  have  had  our  last  word  with  them,  and  we 
cannot  be  certain  that  our  wildest  lament  pierces  the 
shadow  and  the  darkness  which  conceal  our  loved  ones. 
Look  at  the  history  of  the  struggle  with  death,  written  in 
the  Egyptian  and  Etruscan  tombs,  told  in  the  most  splendid 
of  Grecian  myths  and  of  classic  poetry.  One  can  find 
nowhere  a  clear  proof  of  reconciliation  with  this  mystery, 
nor  of  any  satisfaction  with  the  inevitable  doom,  till  the 
light  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Christ  has  abolished 
death  and  brought  life  and  immortality  into  full  view. 
He  who  holds  in  His  hands  the  keys  of  death  and  of 
hell,  says  in  words  that  have  broken  the  silence  of  death, 
"Be  thou  faithful  unto  death,  and  I  will  give  to  thee 
the  crown  of  life."  Our  dead  are  with  Christ  nnd  He  is 
with  us. 

So,  my  brethren,  let  this  light  shine  into  your  hearts, 
and  it  will  soothe  your  trembling  anxieties  over  the  awful 
problem  of  the  infinite ;  it  will  reveal  to  you  the  nature  of 
God  and  the  possibilities  of  man  ;  it  will  blend  with  your 
deepest  sense  of  sin  and  of  guilt  the  assurance  of  a  full  and 
free  forgiveness  ;  it  will  unriddle  the  mystery  of  pain  and 
sorrow,  of  even  Divine  forsaking  and  intolerable  loss,  and 
will  comfort  you  in  the  cold  shadows  of  the  tomb.     But 


OF   THE   GLORY  OF   GOD.  3! 

hiore  than  all,  it  supplies  you  with  an  ideal  of  duty,  a 
motive  for  service,  a  prediction  of  triumph,  and  the  only 
valid  guide  in  the  tremendous  task  now  set  before  all 
Christian  men  and  Churches,  in  their  endeavour  to  heal  the 
wounds,  to  wipe  away  the  tears,  and  to  rectify  the  wrongs 
of  the  world. 

When  this  light  shines  upon  us,  we  have  a  message  to 
the  world  of  heathenism,  and  to  the  nations  that  are  groping 
in  darkness ;  we  have  in  the  brotherhood  of  our  Lord  a 
commission  which  will  go  straight  to  the  evils  that  are 
festering  in  the  heart  of  our  modern  civilization.  We  have 
what  we  know  to  be  the  abundant  justification  of  the  exist- 
ence and  mission  of  the  Church.  We  are  certain  that  we 
have  in  it  a  remedy  for  all  sin,  all  guilt,  all  conflict  with 
Providence,  and  war  between  man  and  man.  We  have  the 
open  secret  and  the  abiding  possession  of  a  peace  that 
passeth  all  understanding. 


THE    MINISTRATION    OF   THE 
SPIRIT. 


D— 6 


Preached  at  East  Parade  Chapel^  I^eeds. 


THE    MINISTRATION    OF 
THE    SPIRIT. 

"  How  shall  not  the  ministration  of  the  Spirit  be  rather  glorious  ?  " 
—2  CoR.-iii.  8. 

What  man  does  not  yearn  over  the  long-lost  joys  of  his 
boyhood,  when  he  remembers  the  merry  game,  the  light 
heart,  the  cheerful  circle,  the  holiday  and  the  prize,  the 
youthful  love  and  the  freedom  from  care  which  marked 
those  early  days?  And  yet  we  all  honestly  think  that 
manhood  is  a  nobler  thing  than  childhood ;  that  the  cares 
which  have  worn  wrinkles  on  the  brow  have  been  part  of  a 
heavenly  discipline,  and  that  the  energy  and  pursuit  of 
active  life  are  greater  gifts  than  those  which  are  sunned 
over  by  the  glow  of  life's  bright  dawn.  Who  does  not 
yearn,  amid  the  doubts  and  difficulties  awakened  by  maturer 
judgment,  for  the  simple  faith  with  which,  in  his  early  days, 
he  received  all  the  statements  that  were  made  to  him,  w^hen 
to  hear  and  believe  were  one,  when  suspicion  never  clouded 
the  face  of  truth,  when  difficulties  and  questionings  were 
almost  unknown  ?  Yet  those  who  have  gone  through  the 
agonies  of  honest  doubt,  and  have  conquered,  feel  that  the 
knowledge  which  springs  out  of  such  questioning,  and 
the  faith  which  can  survive  such  a  test,  and  the  love  that 


36  THE   MINISTRATION   OF  THE   SPIRIT. 

has  passed  through  such  a  fiery  ordeal,  are  worth  more  than 
the  impUcit  faith  or  simple  assent  which  never  cost  a  mental 
pang,  and  was  not  bought  at  so  high  a  price. 

The  springing  corn,  with  its  emerald  glow  of  fresh  young 
life,  is  glorious ;  but  the  rich  harvest  is  rather  glorious.  A 
scaffolding  is  sometimes  a  thing  of  beauty,  and  it  seems  a 
mistake  to  destroy  it ;  but  the  building  which  it  surrounds 
deprives  it  of  permanent  interest,  and  makes  us  anxious 
for  its  removal.  There  is  a  strong  disposition  on  the  part 
of  some  people  to  praise  the  good  old  times;  to  cry  out 
that  they  were  better  than  these,  to  sigh  after  the  return 
of  a  simplicity,  a  slowness,  and  weakness  which  modern 
inventions,  improvements,  and  education  have  scattered  to 
the  winds,  and  to  think  that  all  things  are  tending  to  a 
crisis  for  which  society  in  general,  and  themselves  in  par- 
ticular, are  unprepared.  Yet  no  man  of  competent  mind 
can  take  a  large  view  of  human  affairs  and  events,  and  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  God's  providence  stands  still,  that 
humanity  is  on  the  decline,  that  the  times  of  limited  educa- 
tion, restricted  commerce,  slow  transit,  spiritual  despotism, 
and  triumphant  priestcraft  were  better  than  these ;  or  that 
humanity  at  any  previous  period  of  its  history  was  so  moral, 
spiritual,  benevolent,  right-loving,  and  religious  as  it  is  at 
this  present  moment. 

There  is,  however,  and  always  has  been  this  conserva- 
tive tendency  at  work  in  society,  and  the  Christian  Church 
has  never  been  freed  from  it.  Even  in  the  days  of  Paul 
and  ApoUos  there  were  Gentile  Christians  to  whom  the 
Christ  had  come  so  dressed  up  in  Jewish  garments  that 
they  were  anxious  to  retain  as  much  as  possible  of  the  older 
dispensation.  Now,  though  there  were  at  Corinth  those 
who  were  more  in  danger  from  indulging  their  freedom  and 


THE  MINISTRATION   OF   THE   SPIRIT.  3/ 

turning  their  religious  liberty  into  philosophic  licence  than 
from  clinging  to  Hebrew  or  conservative  prejudices,  Paul 
was  not  afraid — in  spite  of  the  imputations  which  the 
Judaizing  spirit  had  brought  against  his  teaching— to 
reassert  with  unflinching  boldness  the  spiritual  nature  of 
that  gospel  which  he  had  been  the  first  to  proclaim  to  them. 
He  knew  that  truth  was  mightier  than  prejudice,  that  no 
real  harm  could  come  from  the  utterance  of  what  he 
believed  to  be  true ;  and  so  at  the  risk  that  some  of  his 
readers  would  misunderstand  and  abuse  the  sublime  truth, 
and  while  he  frankly  admitted  that  the  older  dispensation 
was  in  many  of  its  aspects  a  glorious  heritage,  yet  he  boldly 
maintained  that  the  ministration  of  the  Spirit  was  rather 
glorious. 

Paul  felt  that  when  the  Spirit  of  Christ  wrought  upon  the 
inert,  almost  animal  life  of  the  world,  man  would  become 
once  more  the  image  of  the  invisible  God,  human  society 
would  be  incorporated  into  a  living  body  for  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  that  then  all  mankind  would  be  transformed 
into  the  everlasting  "  living  temple  "  of  the  Godhead.  Yet 
there  were  then,  and  there  are  now,  men  ignorant  of  the 
power  of  that  Spirit.  Many  are  saying,  "  Show  us  a  sign 
that  we  may  see  and  believe  ; "  and  seem  scarcely  to  know 
whether  there  be  any  Holy  Ghost.  Let  us  endeavour,  in 
response  to  this  state  of  feeling,  to  bring  out  the  meaning 
and  power  of  the  inquiry  of  the  text,  by  contrasting,  as  Paul 
himself  does  in  this  chapter,  the  ministration  of  the  Spirit 
with  other  ministrations  which  precede,  anticipate,  and 
rival  it. 

I.  In  order  to  understand  the  ministration  of  the  Spirit, 
contrast  the  Spirit  with  that  which  is  most  often  brought 
into   comparison  with  it,  namely,  the   body.    We  cannot 


38  THE   MINISTRATION   OF  THE   SPIRIT. 

understand  what  is  meant  by  body,  without  answering  the 
previous  inquiry,  What  is  spirit?  nor  can  we  reply  to  this 
question  without  setthng  in  our  minds  something  about 
the  body  which  it  inhabits.  If  we  see  several  things,  or 
parts  of  things,  united  to  each  other  by  some  secret  bond, 
and  subserving  some  general  purpose,  we  are  accustomed 
to  speak  of  the:ii  as  a  body,  and  of  that  secret  intention  or 
purpose  as  their  uniting  spirit.  In  the  same  way  a  crowd 
of  persons  in  the  street,  an  assembly  of  individuals  instinct 
with  a  common  idea  or  intention,  are  constantly  spoken  of 
as  bodies  of  men,  and  their  common  object  is  the  spirit 
which  actuates  them.  This  arises  doubtless  from  our 
consciousness  that  we  are  ourselves  compounds  of  many 
parts,  organs,  members,  and  passions,  over  the  strange 
assemblage  of  which  a  presiding  spirit  rules.  We  have  a 
body  ;  we  are  spirits.  The  body  is  dependent  on  the  spirit, 
not  the  spirit  on  the  body ;  the  body  may  perish  while  the 
spirit  lives,  the  body  may  be  still  alive  when  the  spirit  is 
virtually  dead. 

Now,  associations  of  men,  when  governed  by  strong 
principle,  in  view  of  great  objects  and  ruled  by  those 
whose  spirit  is  capable  of  being  infused  into  all  around 
them,  are  such  bodies  ;  and  even  the  bodies  of  these  fellow- 
ships have  a  great  work  to  do,  for  without  their  aid,  however 
strong  the  spirit  might  be,  it  would  evaporate  and  be  lost  to 
the  world.  Paul  very  frequently  speaks  of  the  Christian 
Church  under  this  image.  He  says  that  it  is  the  "  body  of 
Christ,"  and  that  it  is  inhabited  by  the  Spirit  of  Christ. 
There  is,  says  he,  "  one  body  and  one  Spirit,  even  as  ye  are 
called  in  one  hope  of  your  calling."  ''  As  the  body  is  one 
and  hath  many  members,  even  so  are  ye  one  body  in  Christ, 
and  every  one  members   one   of  another."     The  body  of 


THE   MINISTRATION    OF   THE   SPIRIT.  39 

Christ  has  a  great  work  to  do.  It  has  to  hold  as  it  were  in 
sacred  keeping  the  invisible  Spirit  of  Jesus  ;  it  has  to  exhibit 
in  its  countenance  His  feehngs,  and  in  its  conduct  His  will. 
It  has  to  seek  its  food  and  support  amid  the  circumstances 
and  according  to  the  laws  of  human  life.  It  has,  like  every 
other  "body,-'  to  take  up  and  turn  as  it  were  into  its  own 
wonderful  substance  the  proper  kind  of  aliment  that  is 
adapted  to  nourish  it ;  it  has  to  bring  the  knowledge,  the 
science,  the  business,  the  poHtics,  the  poetry,  and  the  reality  of 
life  under  the  same  Divine  influence,  to  submit  it  to  the  power 
of  the  same  Spirit ;  and  in  fact  all  these  functions  of  man 
as  well  as  all  classes  of  men  are  baptized  into  one  body. 
Verily  the  body  of  so  Divine  a  Spirit  must  be  the  most 
glorious  association  and  the  most  powerful  existence  in  the 
world. 

Under  the  Old  Testament  dispensation  a  similar  but 
inferior  body  grew  up  from  childhood  to  maturity  in  the 
Holy  Land ;  and  the  revelation  of  God  made  through  it 
consisted  to  a  great  degree  in  the  rules  that  were  assigned 
to  this  body.  The  religion  of  Moses  and  Samuel  and 
Ezra  might  with  reverence  and  truthfulness  be  termed 
a  ministration  of  the  body.  It  consisted  of  innumerable 
regulations  for  the  external  management  of  the  individual, 
the  community,  the  priest,  the  king,  the  temple,  and  the 
State.  Implicit  obedience  to  these  laws  was  grand  and 
glorious  until  the  prejudices  of  Israel  led  them  to  suppose 
that  the  body  w^as  of  more  consequence  than  the  spirit,  and 
the  form  more  precious  than  the  power.  It  must  have 
been  an  awful  and  sublime  spectacle  to  have  witnessed  the 
first  revelation  of  the  Divine  law  and  the  accompanying 
manifestation  of  the  Divine  presence.  It  was  a  grand 
education  in  the  best  days  of  the  Hebrew  theocracy  to  trace 


40  THE   MINISTRATION   OF  THE   SPIRIT. 

the  government  of  the  heavenly  King  in  His  earthly  king- 
dom ;  to  witness  the  splendour  of  the  ceremonial  when  the 
Lord  in  very  deed  dwelt  with  man  upon  the  earth ;  when 
the  temple  in  which  He  shone  forth  upon  the  eyes  and 
hearts  of  men  was  fashioned  after  His  own  design;  and 
when  the  body  was  fed  by  His  own  loving  hand,  clothed 
and  adorned  by  His  own  absolute  wisdom  and  unbounded 
resources.  But  just  as  this  ministration  to  a  body  was 
glorious,  the  ministration  of  the  Spirit  exceeds  it  in  glory; 
and  directly  that  the  body  considers  itself  to  be  the  chief 
end  of  existence,  whether  it  be  the  body  of  a  man,  of  an 
institution,  or  of  a  Church,  the  spirit  is  impaired  and  hastens 
to  its  end.  The  man  who  sinks  into  such  a  condition 
becomes  a  morbid  valetudinarian,  a  slave  of  his  poor  body ; 
the  instittiiioti  thus  perverted  becomes  obstructive  to  the 
end  that  called  it  into  existence ;  and  the  Churchy  Hebrew 
or  Christian,  which  in  gorgeous  ceremonial,  antique  rite,  or 
prescriptive  usage  substitutes  a  care  for  the  body  in  place 
of  all  the  weightier  matters  of  law  and  gospel,  is  unques- 
tionably quenching  the  Spirit  of  God.  When  the  Spirit 
works  upon  us  as  individual  men,  it  transfigures  our  whole 
nature,  and  supplies  us  with  abundant  principles  for  every 
action ;  and  while  it  convinces  us  of  sin,  of  righteousness, 
and  of  judgment  to  come,  it  puts  the  Divine  law  in  our 
inward  parts,  and  will  make  us  love  holiness,  do  justly,  and 
walk  humbly  with  our  God.  It  will  eat  out  the  evil  desires 
of  the  flesh  by  filling  us  with  holy  passions.  We  shall 
then  never  be  satisfied  with  the  most  careftil  attention  to 
the  most  venerable  rule  or  use,  but  shall  be  moved  to  live 
a  Divine  life. 

Again,   we  have   many  institutions  and   societies,  the 
body  of  which  has  sprung  into  existence,  we  believe,  under 


THE   MINISTRATION   OF  THE   SPIRIT.  4I 

the  direction  and  teaching  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  In  propor- 
tion as  they  are  Christian  associations  and  imbued  with  the 
Spirit  of  the  Son  of  God,  sanctified  by  His  presence  and 
existing  for  His  glory,  they  are  parts  of  His  scheme  of 
mercy  for  a  ruined  world.  But  if  we  in  our  vanity  begin  to 
regard  the  mere  association  as  the  end  rather  than  the 
means,  if  we  endow  the  body  with  the  dignity  and  value 
which  belong  only  to  the  Spirit,  we  utterly  fail.  Let  us 
beware  of  making  our  own  sanctuary  or  schools  or  organi- 
zations, our  Church  principles,  or  even  what  we  believe  to 
be  our  true  doctrine,  into  our  idols,  the  ends  for  which  we 
labour.  All  these  things  are  of  priceless  value  and  rich  in 
glory;  but  the  ministration  of  the  Spirit  excels  them  in 
glory.  That  out  of  which  all  righteous  action,  all  holy 
enterprise,  all  manly  zeal  must  constantly  spring,  excels 
them  as  the  spirit  excels  the  flesh  and  blood  over  which  it 
rules.  In  the  childhood  of  the  Divine  life  it  is  very  im- 
portant to  strengthen  the  spirit  by  the  nutrition  and  educa- 
tion of  the  body ;  and  there  are  many  things  that  minister 
to  the  process  :  but  the  ministration  of  the  Spirit,  direct 
communion  with  the  living  God — with  the  Fountain  of  all 
life,  truth,  wisdom,  and  purity, — excels  the  dispensations 
of  childhood,  the  prescriptions  given  to  the  infancy  of  our 
race.  By  forgetfulness  of  this,  many  a  soul,  many  an 
institution,  many  a  Church  has  sunk  into  lethargy,  ceremo- 
nialism, and  formality  ;  has  confounded  little  prescriptions 
with  great  principles,  and  has  quenched  the  fire  or  silenced 
the  voice  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  The  ministration  of  the 
body,  that  is,  the  splendour  and  ritual  of  worship,  the  forms 
of  holy  sacraments  and  common  prayer,  the  details  of  Church 
organization,  of  apostolic  and  other  successions,  may  be 
glorious ;  but  the  ministration  of  the  Spirit  is  rather  glorious. 


42  THE   MINISTRATION   OF   THE   SPIRIT. 

II.  Contrast  the  Spirit  with  the  letter.  The  simplest 
illustration  of  this  antithesis  may  be  found  in  the  nature  of 
language.  Take  any  word  you  please.  Write  it  down. 
Look  at  it.  Of  what  does  it  consist  ?  Of  a  few  strokes 
only,  which  in  themselves  are  utterly  unmeaning.  Pro- 
nounce the  word.  What  is  it  ?  A  sound  or  collection  of 
sounds  which  have  no  meaning  in  themselves.  All  that 
you  know,  after  you  have  looked  or  listened  long,  is,  that 
you  and  others  agree  to  represent  certain  ideas  and  feelings 
by  that  word ;  but  there  is  no  necessary  connection  between 
the  word  and  the  meaning  :  for  the  same  word  may  convey 
ideas  and  suggest  thoughts  that  are  altogether  dissimilar  to 
different  people  or  nations.  Illustrations  of  this  are  un- 
necessary, even  though  some  may  be  unwilling  to  grant  it, 
so  soon  as  the  word  or  letter  has  been  used  to  represent  for 
them  some  of  the  most  precious  or  august  ideas.  Thus, 
though  the  letter  and  the  word  have  great  value,  they  are 
transitory,  accidental,  liable  to  change ;  but  the  thing  itself 
connoted,  or  the  spirit  conveyed  by  the  letter,  may  have  an 
undying  worth,  and  be  a  permanent,  an  eternal  truth. 

We  speak  of  the  letter  and  the  spirit  of  a  law  or  of  a 
testament.  The  one  may  be  observed,  while  the  other  is 
violated.  It  is  quite  possible  to  break  the  spirit  and  fulfil 
the  letter  of  the  law  of  our  country,  or  to  respect  the  spirit 
and  reject  the  letter  of  it.  It  is  very  easy  to  fall  in  with  the 
injunctions  of  a  dying  man,  rigidly  to  obey  the  letter  of  his 
instructions,  and  to  violate  their  spirit  and  set  at  nought 
all  his  wishes.  Often  has  the  letter  of  the  Divine  law  been 
scrupulously  kept,  while  its  spirit  has  been  irreverently 
trifled  with ;  and  very  often  the  spirit  of  that  law  has  been 
established,  while  the  letter  has  been  discarded  and  set  at 
nought.     Thus  a  Divine  Spirit  penetrated  and  illumined 


THE   MINISTRATION   OF   THE  SPIRIT.  43 

the  restrictions  and  rules  of  the  Old  Testament  dispensa- 
tion ;  the  spirit  of  that  covenant  of  God  with  man  has  been 
ministered  afresh  in  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  but  the  letter 
in  which  that  spirit  has  been  conveyed  by  Moses  and  by 
Christ  has  widely  differed.  At  one  time  the  nation  and 
government  of  Israel  were  the  form  in  which  God's  love  to 
man  and  His  providence  over  His  whole  Church  were  made 
known  to  the  world;  but  now  the  holy  nation,  the  peculiar 
people,  are  not  enclosed  by  the  mountains  round  about 
Jerusalem,  are  not  fed  with  honey  from  the  rock,  nor  cheered 
with  the  milk  and  wine  of  earthly  prosperity ;  but  they  are 
found  wherever  hearts  beat  high  with  loyal  childlike  love  to 
the  Father  and  Ruler  of  the  universe,  and  wherever  the  Son 
of  God  has  been  revealed  to  living  faith.  They  are  found 
in  the  general  assembly  and  church  of  the  first-born.  The 
spirit  has  been  preserved,  the  letter  has  been  changed. 

In  like  measure  the  principle  and  spirit  of  sacrifice  were 
seen  in  the  thank-offering  and  the  burnt-offering.  In  these 
ceremonies  were  expressed  the  devotion,  the  reverence,  the 
dependence  of  God's  children  as  well  as  their  sense  of  His 
justice.  But  the  mode  of  expressing  these  things — the 
letter — has  been  changed.  Where  is  the  temple  ?  Not  one 
stone  is  left  upon  another.  Where  are  the  priest  and  the 
sacrifice?  Now  that  He  is  come  who  is  "the  end  of  the 
law  "  they  have  "  ceased  to  be  offered."  On  the  other  hand, 
the  spirit  of  sacrifice  is  not  lost ;  the  gospel  of  Christ  is  the 
ministration  of  that  spirit  to  the  world.  It  presents  the 
highest  conceivable  form  of  sacrifice,  of  entire  surrender  to 
the  Father's  will,  even  though  the  great  High-Priest  who 
offered  up  the  sacrifice  found  therein  humiliation,  tempta- 
tion, near  contact  with  the  evil  one,  and  the  most  awful 
form  of  death.     Here  is  a  complete  propitiation,  a  perfect 


44  THE   MINISTRATION   OF   THE   SPIRIT. 

sacrifice,  a  noble  testimony  to  the  Divine  holiness,  a  fearful 
exposition  of  the  evil  of  sin,  the  most  sublime  incentive  to 
self-sacrifice.  The  gospel  is  the  ministration  to  us  of  the 
intensest  spirit  of  self-sacrifice ;  it  teaches  us,  as  its  spirit 
enters  into  us,  to  present  our  own  bodies  as  living  sacrifices, 
holy  and  acceptable  unto  the  Lord. 

Take  another  illustration  :  the  idea  of  holiness,  of  con- 
secration to  Divine  use,  and  separation  from  all  contami- 
nating influence,  was  traced  out  and  developed  into 
marvellous  detail  among  the  favoured  people.  It  was 
possible  for  everything  to  be  holy ;  not  only  were  the  priest 
and  the  people,  the  father  and  the  child,  the  day  and  the 
place  consecrated,  but  from  the  high  altar  to  the  bells  on 
the  horses,  everything  that  men  could  use,  every  class  of 
society,  every  duty,  every  hour  of  every  day,  every  article 
of  dress,  had  its  own  mode  of  sanctification.  The  most 
minute  rule  was  given  for  every  act,  from  the  ceremony  that 
consecrated  a  king  or  a  priest  to  the  humblest  operation  in 
a  household.  These  rules  have  for  the  most  part  been 
superseded  in  the  dispensation  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The 
letter  has  been  laid  aside  by  the  infusion  and  sufficiency  of 
the  far  higher  principle  of  love  to  God.  Yet  the  domain 
of  holiness  itself  has  not  shrunk  into  narrower  limits ;  we 
are  not  excused  from  the  responsibility  of  being  humble, 
conscientious,  or  consecrated  in  every  relation  of  life,  but 
the  spirit  of  holiness  now  takes  a  far  wider  sweep,  and  gives 
us  principles  of  action  rather  than  rules  for  every  act ;  we 
serve  God  in  ''the  newness  of  the  spirit,  not  in  the  oldness 
of  the  letter."  The  gospel  of  Christ  supplies  us  with  power- 
ful motives,  puts  hoHness  before  us  on  a  higher  elevation, 
exhibits  it  to  our  view  in  an  embodiment  of  its  loftiest  per- 
fection, and  assures  us  that  the  same  Spirit  that  was  given 


THE   MINISTRATION  OF  THE  SPIRIT.  45 

to  Him  and  that  abode  on  Him  is  sent  forth  into  our 
hearts,  crying  "  Abba,  Father."  Let  us  not^  forget  that  the 
ministration  of  the  letter  was  glorious.  We  shall  not 
understand  the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit  unless  we  ap- 
preciate the  real  excellence  of  that  which  has  been  super- 
seded and  outshone. 

The  letter  was  glorious  when  it  first  of  all  clothed 
Divine  thoughts  in  undying  words  and  communicated  them 
to  men ;  but  when  the  Word  was  made  flesh,  and  the 
Divine  ideal  of  humanity  was  no  longer  expressed  in  a 
series  of  sentences  but  in  a  perfect  human  life,  the  ministra- 
tion of  the  Spirit  surpassed  the  ministration  of  the  letter. 

The  elaborate  ceremonial  of  prescribed  rules  was 
glorious.  ''  Beautiful  for  situation,  the  joy  of  the  whole 
earth  was  mount  Zion.''  "This  is  My  rest  for  ever,"  said 
Jehovah,  "here  will  I  dwell,  for  I  have  desired  it."  The 
sacrifices  which  set  forth  the  majesty  of  law,  and  the 
triumph  of  mercy ;  the  priesthood  which  took  the  burden 
of  the  sinful  heart  into  the  awful  presence  and  consumed 
it  there  with  holy  fire  ;  the  sabbath  on  which  Israel  entered 
into  Jehovah's  rest;  the  jubilee  when  the  whole  land 
reverted  to  the  Divine  Ruler, — were  all  glorious  :  yet  it 
must  have  been  a  still  grander  sight  to  have  seen  some  old 
Jewish  priest — who  valued  his  temple,  his  sabbath,  the 
sacrifices  that  he  had  to  offer,  and  the  sacerdotal  course 
to  which  he  belonged,  as  deeply  as  his  own  soul— approach 
the  gorgeous  pile  that  crowned  the  heights  of  Zion,  and 
declare,  "  There  is  One  greater  than  the  temple ;  there 
is  a  Sacrifice  more  precious  than  this  costly  hecatomb  ; 
there  is  a  rest  more  holy  than  my  sabbath ;  there  is  One 
who  is  the  Word  of  God,  the  Word  made  flesh  and  dwelling 
among  us;    there   is   a   glory  that   excels   all   that   once 


46  THE   MINISTRATION   OF   THE   SPIRIT. 

enshrined  for  me  the  Divinity ;  the  way  unto  my  Father  is 
now  made  manifest." 

The  same  principle  must  apply  to  the  contrast  between 
the  letter  and  the  spirit  of  the  gospel.  Incalculably  precious 
as  this  new  letter  really  is,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
it  is  letter,  and  that  the  spirit  of  the  gospel  far  excels  it  in 
glory.  The  letter  of  the  gospel  may  ultimately  prove  to  be 
no  less  indefinite,  no  less  imperfect,  no  less  transitory  than 
the  letter  of  the  Old  Testament ;  but  its  spirit  is  eternal 
and  can  never  exhaust  its  energy  or  lose  its  power.  "  The 
letter  killeth,  but  the  spirit  giveth  life." 

Many  are  striving  to  bind  down  even  the  spirit  of  the 
gospel  by  prescribing  rules  of  holy  living,  by  special  modes 
of  expressing  the  Divine  life,  by  logical  inferences  drawn 
from  the  revealing  word,  by  the  experience  which  has 
been  sanctified  in  the  Church,  by  words  and  phrases  of  our 
holy  gospel  itself.  It  is  none  the  less  true  here,  also,  that 
though  the  ministration  of  the  letter  be  glorious,  the 
ministration  of  the  Spirit  is  rather  glorious. 

III.  Another  contrast,  and  one  which  is  still  more  fre- 
quently unfolded  in  the  New  Testament,  is  that  between 
the  Spirit  and  the  flesh.  This  contrast,  upon  which  St. 
Paul  dilates  at  great  length  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans 
and  elsewhere,  involves  a  far  profounder  view  of  human 
character  and  destiny. 

It  is  clear  that  by  '^  the  flesh "  the  apostle  does  not 
mean  the  mere  physical  system  as  opposed  to  the  soul  or 
to  the  spirit,  but  he  refers  to  the  fleshly  nature  of  man.  By 
the  flesh  he  means  the  whole  of  our  nature  when  left  to 
itself,  or,  as  he  elsewhere  expresses  it,  ''the  natural  man." 
He  means  man  such  as  he  is  when  untouched  by  higher 
influences;  man,  when  he  is  following  the  desires  and  is 


THE   MINISTRATION    OF   THE   SPIRIT.  4/ 

walking  in  the  imaginations  of  his  own  heart.  He  means 
that  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  and  is  flesh ;  the  carnal  mind  , 
which  is  enmity  against  God  and  is  not  subject  to  the  law 
of  God.  The  apostle  and  the  other  writers  of  the  New 
Testament  mean  by  "the  flesh"  the  mere  functions,  ten- 
dencies, and  impulses  of  the  human  being,  in  unrenewed 
and  unregenerate  humanity,  not  such  as  God  had  made  it, 
but  such  as  sin  has  left  it.  We  know  that  the  society  of 
heathendom  in  Paul's  day  was  so  bad,  and  the  light  of 
truth  and  the  working  of  the  Holy  Spirit  were  so  new  and 
so  much  restrained,  that  it  was  necessary  that  he  should  dip 
his  pencil  in  the  darkest  shades  to  give  a  true  outline  of 
the  corrupt  state  of  man.  But  even  in  the  present  day  the 
higher  faculties  of  man  evince  some  of  his  worst  charac- 
teristics ;  and  poetry,  science,  philosophy,  business,  pleasure, 
when  left  to  develop  themselves  without  a  Divine  and 
controlling  principle,  reveal  the  lamentable  anarchy  of  our 
nature  and  the  miserable  bondage  of  our  will.  It  is  with 
this  flesh,  this  unregenerated  humanity,  that  St.  Paul  con- 
trasts the  ministration  of  the  Spirit,  the  life  of  the  spiritual 
man.  By  the  latter  he  everywhere  means  the  result  of  the 
new  creation  within  us,  the  setting  up  within  a  human  soul 
of  a  new  and  Divine  life  by  the  Spirit  of  the  living  God. 

By  the  "  Spirit "  as  opposed  to  the  "  flesh "  Paul 
means  the  dwelling  in  us  of  the  living  Christ,  the  over- 
powering and  overawing  of  both  the  lower  and  the  more 
cultivated  passions  of  the  soul  by  Christlike  and  heavenly 
longings  ;  he  means  that  expunging  and  renunciation  of 
ungodliness  and  worldly  lust,  that  strengthening  of  our 
inner  man,  that  being  rooted  "and  grounded  in  love,"  by 
which  we  both  comprehend  and  *'  know  that  which  passeth 
knowledge."     The  apostle  by  this  phrase  aims  at  nothing 


48  THE  MINISTRATION   OF  THE  SPIRIT. 

less  than  the  completion  of  man  after  the  completeness  of 
Christ,  the  quickening  of  our  whole  spiritual  being,  and  an 
alliance  with  God  Himself. 

The  more  we  know  of  the  gospel  the  more  we  see  that 
it  is  designed  and  adapted  to  awaken  and  minister  to  the 
great  change  from  flesh  to  spirit  j  that  its  prime  end  is  to 
produce,  to  exhibit,  and  to  complete  it;  that  the  Divine 
Creator-Spirit  thus  "  pours  His  joys  on  human  kind,"  thus 
renews  and  saves  the  soul  of  man,  creating  that  which  will 
find  body  and  letter  for  itself.  The  gospel  is  "  the  minis- 
tration of  the  Spirit."  It  conveys  spiritual  blessings,  not 
temporal  advantages  ;  eternal  life,  not  human  distinctions  ; 
the  favour  of  God,  not  the  praise  of  man ;  heaven,  not 
earth  ;  a  new  life,  not  a  new  dress ;  a  new  heart,  not  a  new 
language ;  nothing  less  than  "  a  new  man  after  the  image  of 
Him  that  created  him ; "  "  changed  into  the  same  image, 
from  glory  to  glory,  even  as  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord." 

There  are  those  who  teach  otherwise  ;  who  describe 
the  gospel  of  Christ  as  only  a  new  and  enlarged  edition  of 
the  self-instruction  which  the  human  heart  and  intellect 
have  found  for  themselves  in  nature,  in  providence,  in  con- 
science, a  mere  ministration  of  the  flesh,  of  the  unaided 
nature  of  man,  deprived  of  its  heavenly  origin,  and  robbed 
of  its  Divine  attestations. 

Now,  we  must  not  forget  that  the  ministrat'on  of  the 
flesh,  including  under  that  term  all  that  the  intellect,  con- 
science, and  will  of  man,  unaided  by  the  Divine  Spirit, 
have  ever  been  able  to  achieve,  has  been  undeniably 
glorious.  There  is  an  appalling  grandeur  in  some  of  the 
efforts  of  man.  The  daring  of  Prometheus,  the  wisdom  of 
Confucius,  the  conscience  of  Socrates,  the  mental  affluence 
of  Aristotle,  the  insight  of  Plato,  the  self-sacrifice  of  Buddha. 


THE   MINISTRATION    OF   THE   SPIRIT.  49 

and  all  the  long  and  dreary  effort  which  the  flesh  has  made 
to  crucify  itself  are  full  of  wondrous  sublimity.  I  do  not 
say  that  there  is  no  leading  of  the  Spirit  of  God  through 
all  these  forms  of  the  ministration  of  the  flesh,  but  they  are 
powerfully  contrasted  with  the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit. 

We  are  awed  and  smitten  dumb  with  amazement  at  the 
power  of  falsehood  and  folly  to  inspire  enthusiastic  reve- 
rence ;  we  are  confounded  by  the  gorgeous  fanaticism  of 
the  eastern  world  at  work  through  untold  ages,  from  the 
builders  of  the  pyramids  to  the  last  processions  in  honour 
of  Juggernaut ;  and  we  are  at  times  anxious  and  agitated 
when  we  see  the  triumphs  of  a  purely  physical  science  that 
repudiates  every  possible  mode  of  stating  faith  in  the  Uving 
God, — yet  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  whole  ministration 
of  the  flesh  has  some  glory  of  its  own.  Still,  it  has  no  glory 
by  reason  of  the  glory  that  excelleth.  How  much  does 
the  ministration  of  the  Spirit  excel  the  glory  of  all  that 
attempts  to  rival  it  ?  The  spirit  soars  into  a  region  where 
the  flesh  in  its  most  refined  form  cannot  penetrate ;  it  deals 
with  problems  that  science  is  proving  herself  less  competent 
than  ever  to  solve  \  it  induces  in  human  nature  a  new  series 
of  forces  and  energies  which  transcend  reason,  satisfy  con- 
science, sacrifice  self,  and  glorify  God. 

IV.  Consider,  in  the  last  place,  the  apostle's  contrast 
between  the  ministration  of  death  and  the  ministration 
of  the  Spirit.  The  ministration  of  the  body  was  a  ministra- 
tion of  that  which  is  perishable  and  must  die,  and  hence  it 
is  a  ministration  of  death.  The  ministration  of  the  flesh  is 
a  ministration  of  that  which  has  no  real  vitality  in  it,  which 
does  not  draw  its  strength  from  unseen  and  eternal  sources ; 
and  hence  it  too  is  a  ministration  of  death.  The  ministra- 
tion of  the  letter^  of  the  law  graven  on  stones,  had  a  glory, 

E--6 


50  THE   MINISTRATION   OF  THE  SPIRIT. 

but  it  was  a  ministration  of  threatening  and  warning  and 
destruction,  rather  than  of  life.  It  possessed,  however,  a 
glory  of  its  own,  and  when  Moses  descended  with  it  from  the 
secret  place  of  the  Most  High  his  face  shone  with  supernal 
radiance ;  but  it  was  a  glory  which  was  to  pass  away^  and 
the  passing  away  of  which  was  concealed  by  the  veil  that 
covered  it.  But  the  ministration  of  the  Spirit  is  eternal  in 
its  character,  unfading  in  its  beauty,  outlasting  temple  and 
tabernacle  and  veil.  The  law  became  a  ministration  of 
death.  The  thunder  of  Sinai,  the  fire  that  consumed  the 
sons  of  Aaron,  the  plague  and  the  earthquake,  the  fiery 
serpent,  the  raging  sword,  the  destroying  angel,  and  Death, 
the  standing  enemy  of  our  race,  became  the  awful  ministers 
of  the  dispensation  of  God.  These  commandments  were 
grievous,  and  though  ordained  ultimately  for  life  were  found 
to  be  unto  death.  Sin,  taking  occasion  by  the  command- 
ment, deceived  and  slew  its  victim.  It  is  in  contrast  to 
this  that  the  apostle  describes  the  ministration  of  the  life- 
giving  Spirit ;  that  Divine  message  from  God  to  the  human 
race  by  which  the  spirit  of  man,  instead  of  being  submitted 
to  restrictions  which  cross  its  desires  and  aspirations,  is 
expanded  and  developed  into  agreement  with  the  mind  of 
the  Lawgiver, — instead  of  being  wrought  upon  by  a  machinery 
designed  to  restrain  its  corrupt  propensities,  is  brought 
under  the  influence  of  a  power  which  shall  inspire  Divine 
impulses  and  desires. 

The  whole  of  the  ministration  of  death  had  a  glory  of  its 
own.  The  great  Lord  of  life  utilized  the  strange  and 
mysterious  law  of  death_,  and  made  it  teach  mankind  lessons 
of  life  and  happiness.  The  flaming  sword  of  cherubim,  the 
sepulchral  waves  of  the  deluge,  the  procession  into  the 
deep  waters  of  death  of  kings,  sages,  and  saints,  of  hoary 


THE    MINISTRATION    OF   THE   SPIRIT.  5  I 

patriarchs  and  prattling  babes,  the  heroes  of  many  times 
and  peoples  who,  spite  of  their  love  of  life,  loved  virtue  and 
their  country  and  their  conscience  more,  were  in  and 
through  death  a  sublime  ministration  of  the  law  of  the  Most 
High.  The  bleeding  victims  on  a  thousand  altars,  and  pre- 
eminently those  which  special  revelation  made  prophetic  of 
the  great  Sacrifice  of  Calvary,  were  a  ministration  of  death 
that  was  glorious  in  holiness  and  fearful  in  praises.  "  When 
the  burnt-offering  began  the  song  of  the  Lord  began."  The 
incense  of  gratitude  sweetened  the  hecatomb.  The  glory 
was  great,  though  it  was  terrible.  The  ministration  of 
righteousness,  the  dispensation  of  the  higher  life,  imparted 
through  living  faith  in  the  dying  and  risen  Lord,  exceeds  it 
in  glory.  As  the  sunrise  is  more  glorious  than  the  sublimity 
of  the  midnight  storm,  as  the  dayspring  from  on  high  is 
more  glorious  than  the  dazzle  of  the  lightning  or  the  sweep 
of  the  devouring  hurricane,  as  the  smile  of  spring  and  the 
fertility  of  summer  are  more  glorious  than  the  "  autumn 
fire,"  than  the  magnificence  of  the  iceberg  or  the  gorgeous 
mirage  of  the  desert,  so  does  the  ministration  of  righteous- 
ness exceed  in  glory  all  the  ministration  of  death.  We 
have,  then,  in  these  contrasts  of  St.  Paul  deep  reasons  for 
adoring  gratitude,  for  profound  satisfaction,  for  ardent  holy 
longings.  We  may  be  stimulated  by  them  to  open  our 
whole  nature  to  the  Spirit  and  to  His  mighty  working.  We 
may  rest  calm  in  the  triumph  which  we  know  the  Spirit  will 
gain  over  the  mere  body,  over  the  mere  letter  of  our  insti- 
tutions or  our  dogmas;  we  may  cherish  an  unwavering 
confidence  in  the  ultimate  victory  of  the  Spirit  over  the 
flesh  and  over  the  doom  of  the  flesh.  "  To  be  carnally 
minded  is  death,  to  be  spiritually  minded  is  life  and  peace." 


THE   TENTH    BEATITUDE. 


THE    TENTH    BEATITUDE. 

"Ye  ought  ...  to  remember  the  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  how 
He  Himself  said,  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive." — Acts 
XX.  35- 

When  St.  Paul  visited  Miletus,  and  delivered  his  parting 
charge  to  the  elders  of  the  Ephesian  Church,  several  of  his 
own  most  potent  letters  had  been  already  penned.  These 
were  saturated  with  thoughts  the  origination  of  which  we 
cannot  fairly  attribute  to  him,  and  for  which  we  can  find  no 
adequate  explanation  either  in  Hebrew  literature,  sacred  or 
apocryphal,  in  Greek  philosophy  or  Alexandrine  theories. 
We  read  between  the  lines,  ideas,  principles  and  facts 
already  taken  for  granted  by  St.  Paul  and  his  readers.  He 
and  those  to  whom  he  wrote  had  clearly  moved  into  a  new 
world.  The  veil  had  been  lifted.  The  unseen  had  become 
visible.  The  way  to  the  blessed  life  had  been  manifested. 
Both  worlds  were  dominated  for  them  by  one  Supreme 
Personage,  who,  though  nothing  less  than  God  over  all, 
"  blessed  for  ever,"  had  yet  so  taken  up  into'  Himself  our 
humanity,  had  so  glorified  the  dying  and  risen  Christ,  that 
every  problem  of  life  had  been  restated,  every  aspect  of  the 
world  had  been  revolutionized,  every  ethical  question  that 
had  distracted  the  schools  of  Athens,  Ephesus,  and  Rome 
had  received  a  new  solution, 


56  THE   TENTH   BEATITUDE. 

If  the  new  faith  cannot  be  fathered  on  Hebrew  prophet 
or  Greek  sage,  and  was  not  then  and  there  being  wrought 
out  and  revealed  in  Paul's  own  consciousness — we  must 
look  deeper  for  an  explanation  of  the  great  apostle's  views 
of  sin  and  death,  of  God  and  redemption,  of  salvation  and 
life  eternal,  and  of  the  God-Man  Himself.  Where  can  we 
find  any  explanation  more  rational  than  that  Paul  had  been 
himself  revolutionized  by  the  "words  of  the  Lord  Jesus"? 
This  much  is  historically  certain,  that  when  the  apostle 
was  making  this  memorable  voyage,  a  society  of  men  was 
rapidly  coming  into  existence  which  embraced  both  the 
living  and  the  dead,  which  enshrined  the  principles  and 
caught  the  spirit  of  the  Christ.  This  fellowship  was  built 
on  the  assurances  and  promises  which  were  uttered  in 
human  words  by  Jesus  Christ  during  the  brief  period  of  His 
sojourn  on  earth.  Not  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century 
had  elapsed  since  men  still  living  believed  that  they  saw 
Him,  in  the  humanity  that  they  loved,  "  pass  through  these 
heavens  that  He  might  fill  all  things."  He  was  nothing  less 
to  them  than  the  "  wisdom  of  God  "  and  "  the  power  of  God." 
He  met  the  needs  and  the  passionate  yearning  of  Jew  and 
Greek,  of  Oriental  and  Roman,  of  Barbarian  and  Scythian, 
of  bond  and  free  :  Christ  was  said  to  be  "all  and  in  all." 

Strange  to  say,  from  our  modern  standpoint — so  far  as 
we  know — not  one  of  the  four  Gospels  had  then  been 
written,  still  less  circulated.  Nevertheless,  the  teaching  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  had  gone  forth  from  the  hills  of 
Palestine  into  all  lands.  His  words  had  moved  "  like  the 
appearance  of  lamps  "  in  Ezekiel's  vision.  They  "  went  up 
and  down  among  the  living  creatures,  and  the  fire  was 
bright,  and  the  living  creatures  ran  and  returned  as  the 
appearance  of  a  flash  of  lightning ; "  and  "  the  noise  of  their 


THE   TENTH   BEATITUDE.  57 

wings  "  was  as  "  the  voice  of  the  Ahiiighty."  St.  Paul  had 
clearly  grasped  and  thrown  into  his  own  phraseology  the 
thoughts  and  words  that  the  beloved  disciple  subsequently 
recorded  in  the  fourth  Gospel.  Moreover,  we  gather  from 
his  indubitably  authentic  letters,  that  those  words  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  which  are  preserved  by  the  third  Evangelist — in 
(what  M.  Renan  calls)  the  most  beautiful  book  in  the 
world — were  ever  in  the  heart  and  on  the  tongue  of  the 
apostle  of  the  Gentiles ;  and  that  neither  Matthew,  Mark, 
Luke,  nor  John  gathered  up  a  tithe  of  these  Divine  words, 
which  spread  like  prairie-fire  round  the  whole  seaboard  of 
the  Mediterranean. 

The  patristic  contribution  of  these  memorable  sayings  to 
general  tradition  is  fragmentary  but  noteworthy,  and  within 
the  last  decade  a  previously  unknown  "word  of  the  Lord 
Jesus ''  ^  has  been  let  fall  upon  us  as  a  drop  of  liquid  light,  of 
strange  potency,  and  not  without  its  bearing  on  the  ''  Word  " 
which  is  embedded  in  a  form  of  crystalline  beauty  amid  the 
admonitions  of  this  farewell  speech  of  the  Apostle  Paul. 
Many  another  word  may  there  and  then  have  been  circu- 
lating like  the  visionary  "wheels"  of  Ezekiel.  Sometimes 
they  burned  like  fire,  and  anon  as  they  passed  from  lip  to 
lip,  from  language  to  language,  from  heart  to  heart,  they 
distilled  Divine  refreshment  or  poured  themselves  out  in 
showers  of  blessing.  We  are  conscious  of  no  exaggeration 
when  we  say  that  we  could  more  willingly  part  with  many 
an  ancient  classic,  with  many  an  ode  of  Pindar  or  oration  of 
Demosthenes,  many  a  treatise  of  Aristotle  or  Cicero,  whole 
sutras  of  Buddha  and  much  Vedic  literature,  than  with  this 
Divine  utterance  which  goes  down  to  the  very  depths  of 
human  life,  and  stretches  out  to  embrace  the  essential 
*  See  the  Didache,  i.  6,  and  compare  with  Ecclesiasticus  xii.  i-6. 


58  THE   TENTH   BEATITUDE. 

blessedness  of  God  Himself.  Small  and  bright  as  a  dew- 
drop,  yet,  as  we  watch,  it  swells  into  a  veritable  ocean  of 
love,  on  whose  placid  surface  are  reflected  all  the  glories  of 
heaven  and  earth. 

"It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive!"  Our 
Divine  Lord  said  '■^  more  blessed."  Then  it  is  blessed  to 
receive.  Until  we  know  the  blessedness  of  "receiving,"  we 
cannot  appreciate  the  higher  blessedness  of  "giving." 
There  is  no  antithesis  here  between  the  blessedness  of 
giving  and  the  //^/^-blessedness  of  receiving.  The  com- 
parison which  our  Lord  made  was  between  the  greater  and 
the  less,  between  the  higher  and  lower  forms  of  blessedness. 
Oriental  mysticism,  Buddhist  legends,  have  urged  the 
hyperbole  of  self-sacrifice  for  its  own  sake,  have  stumbled 
into  this  veritable  pit  of  pessimism.  The  Lord  Christ 
illumined  the  profoundest  problems  of  ethic  and  the  true 
secret  of  the  religious  life,  when  He  said  :  "  It  is  more 
blessed  to  give  than  to  receive ; "  "  freely  ye  have  received, 
freely  give." 

Let  us  ponder  for  a  few  moments  the  blessedness  of 
receiving  some  of  the  richest  and  noblest  things  of  human 
and  Divine  love.  God  Himself  is  the  great  Giver.  His 
gifts  are  messages  direct  from  His  heart,  and  the  Father's 
signature  upon  them  brings  Him  very  near  to  the  minds 
that  interpret  this  mystic  handwriting.  By  receiving  the 
bestowments  of  love,  we  enter  into  the  mind  of  the  Giver. 
If  7ve  cannot  receive.  He  cannot  give  all  that  He  is  willing 
and  able  to  impart.  If  the  object  of  love  fails  to  appreciate 
and  appropriate  the  royal  bounty,  God  Himself  is  wounded 
and  pierced  by  the  ingratitude.  Hearken  to  the  wail  of  the 
heart-broken  prophet  Hosea,  a  man  who  was  inspired  to 
weave   out   of  his  own   infelicity  and  domestic  tragedy  a 


THE  TENTH   BEATITUDE.  59 

representation  of  the  injury  done  to  the  Lord  God  by  His 
faithless  bride  :  "  She  did  not  know  that  I  gave  her  corn, 
and  wine  and  oil,  and  multiplied  her  silver  and  gold."  "  I 
have  written  .  .  .  the  great  things  of  My  law,  but  they 
were  counted  as  a  strange  thing."  And  again  :  "  I  taught 
Ephraim  to  walk,  taking  them  by  their  arms,  but  they  knew 
not  that  I  healed  them."  Thus  Isaiah  also  pleaded  in  the 
name  of  Jehovah  with  the  men  of  Judah :  "  What  could 
have  been  done  more  to  My  vineyard  that  I  have  not  done 
in  it?"  And  our  Lord  remonstrates  with  His  hearers  : 
"  Ye  will  not  come  unto  Me  that  ye  might  have  life." 
Because  we  are  too  ready  at  times  to  get  beyond  our 
position  of  humble  recipiency,  we  often  fail  of  the  grace  of 
God.  Some  enumeration  of  these  gifts  may  help  to  chastise 
our  ingratitude,  and  disturb  the  pride  that  is  anxious  to 
earn  and  to  merit  grace,  before  it  is  roused  to  perceive  our 
own  utter  helplessness,  our  mendicancy,  our  entire  depen- 
dence upon  the  gifts,  the  tokens,  and  the  amnesties  of 
Infinite  Love. 

I.  It  is  blessed  simply  to  receive  Nature's  gifts  even 
before  we  can  apprehend  their  full  complexity,  their  lavish 
abundance,  their  anticipation  of  our  desires,  their  hidden 
secrets,  and  their  boundless  possibilities.  All  the  progress 
of  man  is  measured  by  the  degree  to  which  he  has 
appreciated  and  received,  discovered  and  utilized,  the  free 
gifts  of  God  in  nature.  When  man  first  understood  what 
Nature  had  done  for  him  in  offering  him  the  flower  and 
fruit  and  seed  of  corn,  then  began  the  harvest  of  the 
world.  When  human  intelligence  apprehended  what  was 
involved  in  the  chalk-beds  and  coalfields  and  mineral 
wealth  at  his  feet ;  when  he  grasped  the  meaning  of  fire 
and  lightning,  and  the  contents  of  water  and  air;  when  he 


6o  THE   TENTH   BEATITUDE. 

thus  received  these  treasured  forces  and  boundless  provisions 
of  Nature  ;  when  he  began  to  "  receive "  and  utilize  the 
energies  which  had  been  moulding  the  world  for  untold 
centuries, — then  science  took  its  birth.  If  we  stubbornly 
refuse  to  receive  the  light  of  heaven,  we  stumble  blindfold 
into  the  pitfalls  at  our  side.  Should  we  refuse  to  receive 
our  daily  bread,  or  put  it  from  us  with  suicidal  hand,  we 
perish.  Furthermore,  Nature  lavishes  upon  us  together 
with  these  elementary  gifts,  appeals  to  our  higher  and  more 
subtle  desires,  awakens  them  by  her  magic  touch,  and  gives 
us  the  sense  of  beauty,  truth,  and  goodness.  The  surpass 
ing  loveliness  of  much  of  Nature's  work  must  be  received  by 
those  who  have  the  eyes  and  ears  of  the  spirit  opened  to 
perceive  it.  All  that  Art  has  ever  done  to  soften  and 
beautify  the  career  of  man  upon  earth,  has  been  to  record 
the  high  joy,  or  subtle  pain  akin  to  bliss,  which  the  percep- 
tion and  reception  of  the  glory  of  Nature  has  given  to  a 
comparatively  few  elect  souls.  The  great  artists  and  poets, 
musicians  and  sculptors,  have  so  embodied  their  strong 
emotions  in  abiding  form  and  material,  that  others  may 
learn  from  them  the  blessed  secret  of  receiving  the  mystery 
of  beauty,  and  accepting  some  of  the  truth  and  goodness  of 
its  eternal  Source. 

2.  All  human  love  is  a  ministration  of  Divine  love. 
Human  tenderness  is  but  a  channel  cut  by  Holy  Providence 
through  which  the  rivers  of  God's  pleasure  flow.  God 
lavishes  His  own  love  upon  us  through  the  hearts  and  by 
the  hands  of  those  who  love.  Now,  it  is  blessed  to  receive 
huma7i  love,  and  the  gifts  of  love.  Self-sacrifice  would  be 
a  form  of  selfishness,  if  it  monopolized  all  the  blessedness  of 
the  process.  See  the  child  with  its  hands  full  of  birthday- 
gifts,  intense  joy  lighting  its  eye,  almost  bursting  the  tiny 


THE   TENTH   BEATITUDE.  6l 

heart.  If  the  little  one  had  no  blessedness  in  receiving 
father's,  mother's,  and  sister's  tokens  of  love,  and  found  no 
joy  in  its  new  riches,  if  such  were  thrown  idly  away  and 
conveyed  no  thrill  of  bliss,  the  grace  of  giving  would  be 
doubtful.  Sometimes  pride  of  spirit  refuses  to  be  beholden 
to  another,  resents  the  sense  of  obligation,  groans  over  the 
necessity  of  accepting  beneficence,  cannot  confer  the  higher 
joy  on  those  who  have  the  power  and  will  to  give.  Perhaps 
the  explanation  is,  that  they  desire  to  reverse  the  relations : 
they  envy  the  power  of  giving  the  smaller  blessedness  to 
another.  However  this  may  be  explained,  it  is  an  exception 
which  illustrates  the  enormous  spread  of  the  rule,  that  it  is 
"  blessed  to  receive ; "  only  on  this  principle  can  the 
inequalities  of  human  power  and  capacity  be  compensated, 
can  the  strong  help  the  weak,  can  the  physician  heal  the 
sick,  can  the  wise  instruct  the  foolish,  can  the  ignorant 
walk  in  the  light  of  knowledge,  can  genius  lighten  care,  and 
the  great  thoughts  of  a  few  become  the  bread  of  life  to  the 
many.  Because  it  is  ''blessed  to  receive,"  we  can  drink 
into  the  spirit  of  the  mighty  dead,  we  can  utilize  their 
pregnant  guesses  and  apply  to  our  own  case  their  hoarded 
wisdom.  All  beneficence  would  be  dried  at  its  source,  all 
philanthropy  and  evangelism  at  home  and  abroad  would 
sicken  and  die,  if  there  were  no  blessedness  in  receiving 
the  streams  of  living  water  which  are  always  pouring  forth 
from  human  hearts. 

Is  this  too  much  of  a  truism  to  illustrate  further? 
Perhaps  the  effort  to  do  so  at  all  would  be  superfluous  if 
there  were  not  lamentable  forgetfulness  of  this  principle  on 
the  part  of  some  recipients  of  the  noblest  gifts  of  all.  Are 
there  not  specimens  all  around  us  of  ingratitude  for  blessed- 
ness   already   enjoyed    and    utilized  ?      Are    not    parents 


62  THE  TENTH   BEATITUDE. 

sometimes  broken-hearted  because  they  never  know  the 
blessedness  of  receiving  the  confidence  of  their  children  ? 
Are  children  always  enriched  as  they  might  be  with  the 
blessedness  of  receiving  the  best  gifts  their  parents  could 
(if  their  minds  were  spiritual  and  unworldly)  freely  bestow  ? 
Do  husbands  and  wives  always  find  opportunity  of  rejoicing 
in  one  another's  gifts?  Are  not  kindness  and  sympathy 
often  withheld  where  they  might  flood  the  parched  heart 
with  lovingkindness  ?  Would  not  human  life  be  indefinitely 
brighter,  if  many  who  were  gorged  with  advantages  lavished 
upon  them  by  others^  no  longer  ungratefully  withheld  from 
those  to  whom  they  owe  so  much  the  blessedness  of  receiving 
a  faint  recognition  of  the  debt  ?  Let  us  think  of  our  great 
discoverers  who  have  conferred  joy  on  millions,  yet  have  died 
in  poverty  and  neglect ;  of  the  poets  who  have  added 
sunshine  to  daylight,  yet  who  have  never  found  one  beam 
of  love  to  cheer  their  own  dark  lot ;  of  the  great  patriots 
and  statesmen  who,  age  after  age,  are  made  the  butt  of 
malice,  and  are  hated  for  their  goodness;  of  the  martyrs  for 
liberty,  truth,  and  righteousness,  who  have  never  known  the 
blessedness  of  sympathy,  and  whose  dying  agonies  have 
been  mocked  by  prophecies  of  eternal  hatred,  and  threats 
of  everlasting  fire.  Such  tragic  indices  of  the  stolidity  and 
corruption  of  the  human  heart  prove  how  imperfectly  we 
recognize  the  blessedness  of  receiving  human  love. 

3.  Once  more,  the  most  impressive  illustration  of  the 
principle  is  the  veritable  blessedness  of  receiving  the  grace 
of  God.  The  secret  of  receiving  from  the  living  God  what 
is  neither  earned  nor  merited,  and,  moreover,  that  to  which 
we  cannot  lay  the  smallest  claim ;  nay,  further,  that  which 
we  have  madly,  meanly,  gracelessly  forfeited,  is  a  secret 
which  some  are  slow  to  learn.     Human  pride  comes  in  and 


THE  TENTH  BEATITUDE.  63 

resents  unmerited  compassion,  and  disputes  the  necessity 
for  mercy.  Philosophy  helps  it  to  minimize  the  peril  of 
sin,  and  a  shallow  science  throws  all  the  blame  of  sin  on 
nature  or  matter  or  on  God  Himself.  The  blessedness 
of  receiving  Christ's  supreme  gift  is  disputed,  because 
it  involves  too  severe  a  self-scrutiny.  The  flesh  which 
crucified  Him  once,  resists  the  crucifying  process  when 
faith  begins  to  drive  the  nails  into  its  own  quivering  hands. 
The  world  must  be  crucified  by  the  cross  of  Christ,  but  the 
world  in  our  hearts  dies  hard.  It  is  blessed  to  accept 
Christ  as  our  wisdom,  when  we  have  once  done  it,  but  it  is 
a  bitter  trial  to  confess  that  our  own  wisdom  is  folly.  It  is 
blessed  to  receive  the  Lord  Christ  as  our  righteousness,  but 
the  self-battle  is  often  stern  and  long  before  we  relinquish 
our  own  righteousness.  It  is  life  from  the  dead  to  find  that 
Christ  has  redeemed  us  through  the  agony  and  death 
wherewith  He  accepted  the  full  penalty  and  curse  of  human 
sin ;  but  most  of  us  have  a  fierce  struggle  before  we  admit 
our  helplessness,  or  consent  to  the  fact  that  "  without  Him 
we  can  do  nothing." 

It  is  blessed  to  receive  what  Jesus  Christ  gives  to  man, 
even  though  it  smite  down  our  pride  and  explode  our  self- 
sufficiency.  We  are  blessed  in  this  poverty  of  spirit, 
blessed  even  in  our  mourning,  blessed  in  our  new  and 
heavenly  hunger,  blessed  in  the  purging  of  the  eye  of  the 
heart,  blessed  even  when  persecuted  and  reviled  for  such  a 
faith,  blessed  though  we  are  infinitely  beholden  to  Him, 
blessed  though  it  will  take  eternity  to  express  our  obligation 
or  to  pay  "our  debt  of  endless  gratitude,  still  paying  still 
to  owe."  It  is  blessed  to  receive  the  greatest  gift,  to 
receive  into  our  very  nature  a  new  and  endless  life,  to  be 
born  from  above,  to  find  thrilling  within  us  the  pulses  of  the 


64  THE    TENTH   BEATITUDE. 

Eternal  Love,  and  to  know  that  we  can  take  no  honour,  no 
credit  whatever  to  ourselves  for  this  Divine  indwelling.  It 
is  blessed  to  sit  in  the  sunshine  of  the  Divine  Presence,  to 
behold  the  glory  of  the  Son  of  Man,  to  be  satisfied  with  the 
grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  to  be  filled  with  all  the  fulness  of 
God,  and  to  be  for  ever  with  the  Lord. 

These  golden  words  of  Christ  admit  and  enforce  all 
this,  but  they  authoritatively  proclaim  a  deeper  truth,  and 
promise  a  blessedness  that  surpasses  that  of  receiving  from 
nature  and  human  love  their  best  gifts,  or  even  that  of 
receiving  Divine  grace.  //  is  MORE  BLESSED  TO 
GIVE  than  to  receive. 

Can  any  reason  be  assigned  for  such  a  sweeping  and 
comprehensive  inversion  of  all  ordinary  maxims  ?  Why 
should  the  bestowment  of  joy  be  a  greater  blessedness  to 
the  giver  than  to  the  receiver  ?  Some  tell  us  of  the  essential 
nobility  of  the  disinterested  affections.  Others  assure  us 
that  we  are  so  constituted  that  we  cannot  have  any  real  joy 
ourselves  without  imparting  joy  to  others.  Some  dilate  on 
the  grandeur  of  human  nature  which  invests  sacrifice  with 
this  royal  robe.  Others  undervalue  this  beatitude  by  regard- 
ing it  as  nothing  more  than  a  glorification  of  the  golden  rule. 
Is  it  enough  to  say  that  this  is  an  ultimate  truth  deeper  than 
thought  itself?  Will  a  wide  induction  of  the  so-called  joys 
of  earth  and  of  unspiritual  men  confirm  the  statement  ? 
Should  we  not  tremble  to  put  it  to  such  a  test  here  in  this 
Christian  England  of  ours?  Let  the  race-course  and  the 
stock  exchange,  the  insurance  office  and  the  Parliament  of 
England,  the  law-courts  and  the  land-courts  answer !  Let 
diplomacy  with  its  Do  tit  des,  let  trade  and  speculation,  let 
professional  etiquette  and  social  distinctious  and  cliques  be 
submitted  to  the  fire  of  this  principle.     The  honest  advocate 


THE  TENTH   BEATITUDE.  6$ 

of  such  a  law  of  life  would  be  branded  with  scorn,  and 
hustled  off  any  stage  of  human  activity.  We  need  not 
travel  to  the  Oriental  seraglio,  to  the  gangs  of  slave-traders, 
or  to  the  battle-fields  of  commerce  or  of  national  rivalries, 
to  the  hells  or  slums  of  heathen  cities,  to  see  that  ethical 
philosophers  who  try  to  find  this  great  law  of  blessedness 
in  a  study  of  Human  Nature  as  it  is,  have  miserably  failed. 
Our  own  daily  habit  and  inward  experience  convince  us 
that  we  are  handling,  in  this  profound  and  golden  utterance, 
a  state  of  things  w^hich  oug/i^  to  exist,  but  does  not ;  which 
has  not  yet  been  adequately  put  to  the  proof,  even  within 
the  society  of  the  redeemed  in  the  Church  of  the  living 
God. 

Have  we  personally  acted  upon  this  teaching  even  at 
the  table  of  the  Lord  ?  Is  it  the  regal  principle  at  work  in 
what  calls  itself  the  very  body  of  Christ  ?  Individuals  may 
occur  to  us  whose  whole  being  is  one  unceasing  process  of 
giving,  on  whose  brow  there  sits  the  dove  of  peace,  and  in 
whose  eyes,  wliich  are  full  of  tears  of  boundless  sympathy, 
there  gleams  the  light  of  heaven's  own  joy.  But  is  their 
experience,  their  blending  of  apparent  sorrow  with  sacred 
blessedness,  a  final  proof  ?  How  can  we  justify  this 
divine  and  prophetic  utterance  of  the  Lord  Jesus  ?  Is  it  a 
true  law  ?  Can  w^e  take  the  Son  of  Man  at  His  word  ?  The 
very  form  of  the  phrase  seems  to  reveal  the  essential  con- 
trariety between  Christianity  and  either  Oriental  self-sacrifice 
or  Buddhist  Nirvana^  v/hich  is  now  discussed  by  many  who 
seem  to  do  so  in  a  spirit  hostile  to  the  religion  of  Christ. 
Buddha  recommended  the  extinction  of  desire,  the  cessation 
of  all  yearning,  utter  quietism  and  invincible  repose. 
Christ  promised  satisfaction  to  the  highest  desires,  and  He 
declared;  moreover,  which  were  the  highest  and  the  best. 

F— 6 


66  THE   TENTH   BEATITUDE. 

He  made  such  satisfaction  a  motive,  He  placed  such  joys 
as  these  before  Himself,  and  He  holds  out  to  every  faithful 
and  loyal  servant  the  privilege  of  entering  into  His  own  joy. 

The  judgment  of  the  Lord  Jesus  was  authoritative  for 
St.  Paul  on  this  ethical  and  religious  problem.  The  saying 
of  the  text  must  be  true,  and  will  be  found  to  be  true 
because  He  who  is  the  truth  uttered  it.  He  must  know.  He 
came  forth  to  us  from  among  the  sources  and  causes  of  all 
things.  By  Him  and  through  His  agency  God  made  the 
worlds.  He  came  out  from  God,  and  came  into  the  world. 
He  is  more  than  a  revelation,  an  unveiling  of  the  truth. 
He  is  the  truth,  the  reality  and  the  complete  expression, 
too,  of  human  life  and  of  Divine  fulness.  What  He  says 
about  "  blessedness"  is  of  more  weight  than  that  which  any 
other  of  the  sons  of  men  have  said.  He  gave  to  the 
principle  here  involved  the  most  complete  expression.  He 
tested  it,  as  no  other  could  possibly  do,  on  the  one  hand,  by 
a  receptivity  open  to  all  the  amplitude  of  the  Holy  Father's 
love  lavished  upon  Him  from  eternity ;  and,  on  the  other, 
by  a  sacrifice  and  gift  of  Himself,  which  was  practically  and 
to  our  most  vivid  imagination  infinite  and  absolute. 

He  compared  the  eternal  receiving  and  the  infinite 
giving  of  His  own  experience  with  each  other ;  and  in  the 
hour  of  His  sorest  travail,  of  His  deepest  humiliation,  He 
seemed  to  say,  "  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive." 
This  was  His  conviction,  and  He  clearly  made  it  the  rule  of 
His  human  life.  The  law  of  this  blessedness  was  the  law  of 
His  self-manifestation.  In  the  wilderness  He  was  tempted 
to  use  His  supreme  powers  for  the  satisfaction  of  His 
personal  requirements ;  He  was  tempted  to  receive  miracu- 
lous sustenance  and  protection  from  disaster,  so  as  the  more 
easily  to  win  acceptance  from  the  sign-loving,  wonder-seek- 


THE  TENTH   BEATITUDE.  6/ 

ing  nation.  He  was  tempted  to  receive  the  homage  of  the 
world  by  ceasing  to  wage  warfare  with  the  evil  enshrined  in 
it.  He  "  suffered,  being  tempted ;  "  but  the  higher  blessed- 
ness of  supreme  self-sacrifice  won  the  day  :  He  gave  Him- 
self to  life-long  need ;  He  consecrated  himself  to  earnest, 
patient,  and  persuasive  work.  He  gave  Himself  to  the 
stniggle  with  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil;  to  be 
crowned  with  thorns  ;  to  endure  sweat  of  blood ;  to  meet  all 
the  power  of  darkness  ;  and  He  found  all  this  more  blessed. 

When  we  are  on  the  search  for  any  ultimate  principle,  or 
for  a  sufficient  explanation  of  some  otherwise  insoluble 
mystery,  w^e  always  find  ourselves  driven  to  the  same  place 
of  thought.  E.g.^  when  we  want  to  answer  the  question, 
"What  is  truth?"  we  never  get  rest  till  we  find  it  in  the 
presence  of  God,  and  learn  that  truth,  per  se,  is  thai  which 
God  thinks  abojit  things.  If  we  yearn  after  a  solution  of  the 
problem  of  the  absolute  Beauty,  we  can  find  it,  not  in  the 
pleasure  it  gives,  nor  in  the  associations  it  summons,  nor  in 
the  symmetry,  nor  in  the  resolved  discords  of  the  harmonies 
of  nature,  but  in  the  robing,  the  vesture — indicating  the  near 
presence — of  the  Almighty.  All  beauty  is  but  the  cloud  of 
incense  round  the  shrine  of  His  glory.  Beauty  is  God's 
behaviour,  just  as  Truth  is  His  thought. 

Goodness  and  Rightness  are  never  explained  by 
such  synonyms  as  "  the  beautiful,"  or  the  "  true ;  "  nor  ex- 
pounded by  the  unsatisfying  dream  that  the  "good  "  is  the 
pleasurable  ;  or  that  the  "  right "  is  simply  the  useful, 
profitable,  or  advantageous  course  of  conduct.  The  con- 
science, the  intuition  of  mankind,  has  never  rested  in  that 
solution,  nor  does  the  mind  ever  feel  at  peace  until  it  sees 
that  the  Good,  the  Just,  the  Rightful  are  simply  names 
for   the   Supreme    Being — for   that   which   He   is  by   His 


6S  THE  TENTH   BEATITUDE. 

eternal  nature.  This  shows  us  why  all  these  terms  melt 
into  one  when  we  press  their  meanings  out  into  the  Infinite. 
So  if  we  wish  to  solve  the  deep  meaning  of  our  text,  and 
ask  why  is  it  "  MOfr  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive  "  ?  we 
can  only  find  the  answer  in  the  fact  that  God — the  Eternal 
One  and  Three— is  the  great  Giver,  He  finds  His  giving 
more  blessed  than  His  receiving ;  Plis  Supreme  Being  is 
the  witness  to  this,  and  so  are  His  noblest  acts. 

A  few  words  on  each  of  these  points. 

The  Eternal  relation  of  the  Father  and  the  Son  is  the 
eternal  interchange  of  giving  and  receiving  love.  There  is 
a  mutual  aifection  in  the  depths  of  Deity.  The  philosophic 
and  barren  conception  of  a  supreme,  impassive,  unalterable, 
impersonal  monad  strives  hard  to  hold  its  ground,  but 
Christianity  has  undermined  it,  and  it  will  utterly  vanish 
before  the  conception  of  God  as  "  Zove."  Before  all  worlds, 
before  the  angels  were,  or  any  force,  or  place.  He  was  from 
eternity  "Love."  There  was  the  perfect  subject  and  the 
perfect  object,  and  the  perfect  union  of  infinite  Love :  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Spirit.  In  the  text  before  us  we  see  the 
very  order  of  the  Trinity.  The  Father's  giving,  greater  than 
the  Son's  receiving.  So  Jesus  says,  "  I  and  the  Father  are 
one ;  "  but  "  the  Father  is  greater  than  I." 

The  Godhead  in  the  effluence  of  His  glory  is  greater 
than  is  the  reflection  of  that  glory  from  the  entire  universe. 
From  this  principle  we  see  some  hint  for  the  motive  of  the 
creation.  The  Lord  called  forth  an  object  for  the  super- 
fluity of  His  infinite  Love.  It  was  more  blessed  for  Him 
to  give  than  to  receive,  so  the  heavens  appeared  and  all 
the  host  of  them,  and  all  the  pomp  of  worlds.  In  this 
sense,  to  the  glory  of  His  great  name,  "  they  are  and  were 
created."     From  everything  He  receive?  soriie  tribute,  some 


THE  TENTH   BEATITUDE.  6g 

reflection  of  His  essential  being,  some  echo  of  His  word, 
some  recognition  of  dependence  upon  His  supreme  will ; 
but  only  from  conscious  mind  can  adequate  response  be 
made  to  love.  From  the  love  of  God's  creatures  He  receives 
an  augmentation  of  blessedness,  and  so  Lore  is  the  law  for 
them,  which  if  they  break  they  introduce  harsh  discord  into 
the  music  of  the  universe.  Great  is  the  joy  of  the  Lord  in 
the  praises  of  His  children,  but  greater  still  in  bestowing 
upon  them  ever-abounding  reasons  for  their  praise. 

The  noblest  and  the  most  wonderful  gift  of  the  Lord 
God  is  the  Licarnation  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  that  great 
act  of  the  Father  is  the  blessedest  of  all.  He  gave  His 
only-begotten,  His  well-beloved.  The  fountains  of  the 
great  deep  of  the  Divine  nature  were  broken  up,  but  His 
joy  was  full.     It  was  the  joy  of  the  Lord  God  Almighty. 

But  we  must  adapt  this  great  principle  of  blessedness  to 
the  smaller  range  of  our  own  experience,  after  seeing  it 
tested  in  this  flaming  crucible  of  the  Infinite  Love. 

Vd  ought  to  remember  and  act  upon  the  uwrds  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  because  they  express  the  whole  manner  of  the  perfect 
man,  and  the  mind  of  the  Lamb  of  God,  and  the  very  essence 
of  the  Eternal  Godhead.  St.  Paul  was  apt  at  linking  great 
and  world-wide  universal  principles  with  our  daily  duties. 
E.g.,  St.  Paul  will  not  prevaricate  about  his  visits  to 
Corinth.  Certainly  not.  But  why  not?  Because  lies 
in  the  long  run  are  disadvantageous  or  unpleasing  ?  Nay  ; 
but  because  "all  the  promises  of  God  are  yea  and  Amen" 
in  Christ  Jesus.  Therefore,  Paul's  "yea"  must  not  be 
"nay."  And  so  out  of  a  law  of  life,  as  revelatory  of  the 
nature  of  God  and  the  heart  of  Jesus  as  this  is,  St.  Paul 
calls  upon  the  Miletan  elders  to  look  tenderly  after  the 
weak  and  the  erring.     "  Ye  ought  to  remefuber"  because  it  is 


70  THE   TENTH   BEATITUDE. 

a  truth  you  are,  in  the  corruption  and  weakness  of  nature, 
in  continual  danger  of  forgetting,  that  it  is  more  blessed 
to  give  than  to  receive. 

I  grant  you  all  the  blessedness  of  receiving  the  gifts 
of  nature  and  of  the  world,  and  of  the  love  of  man  :  you 
must  aim  at  the  higher  and  greater  blessedness  of  diffusing 
and  conferring,  of  giving  freely  to  others  what  you  know 
to  be  worthy.  The  first  believers  sold  their  possessions, 
stripped  themselves  utterly  that  they  might  yield  themselves 
to  this  sublime  impulse,  and  know  something  of  the  blessed- 
ness of  Christ,  some  of  the  blessedness  of  God.  Many  a 
saint  and  martyr  has  done  the  like,  from  St.  Anthony  to 
Basil  and  Gregory,  Francis  and  Columba,  and  tens  of 
thousands  of  those  who  have  renounced  all  for  Christ  and 
His  poor ;  all  for  Christ  and  those  for  whom  Christ  died. 
Ye  ought  to  remember  these  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus  when 
you  are  tempted  to  say :  "  Soul,  thou  hast  much  goods  laid 
up  for  many  years ; "  you  ought  to  remember  the  words 
of  Christ,  when — to  put  it  in  a  practical  form — there  is  a 
question  between  the  blessedness  of  buying  a  ring,  or  a 
picture,  or  a  house,  or  a  book,  or  a  coat  for  yourself;  and 
the  blessedness  of  giving  to  the  sick,  the  helpless,  the 
naked,  and  the  fatherless. 

Most  earnestly  St.  Paul  counsels  you  to  receive  the  grace 
of  God,  to  receive  the  Christ,  to  receive  the  gift  of 
the  Incarnate  Son  of  God,  by  a  strong  grasping  of  faith, 
in  the  implicit  confidence  of  a  perfect  trust.  This  will 
make  you  blessed.  Here  is  the  blessedness  of  holy  rest. 
With  eyes  suffused,  with  hearts  aglow,  you  take  the  symbols 
of  the  body  broken  for  you,  of  the  blood  shed  for  you. 
O,  Christian  believer,  great  is  thy  faith,  great  is  thy 
blessedness  !     But  art  thou  going  to   sit  and  sing  thyself 


THE   TENTH   BEATITUDE.  71 

away  to  everlasting  bliss?  Nay,  ''Remember  the  words  of 
the  Lord  Jesus."  Ye  ought  to  do  so.  There  is  a  greater 
blessedness  than  this  :  you  are  to  givp:.  Yes,  to  give  your- 
self back  to  God  in  holy  consecration.  You  are  not  your 
own,  but  you  are  His  who  has  given  Himself  for  you  and 
to  you.  Human  love  is  colourless  unless  it  be  mutual  and 
ever-growing.  Is  love  between  the  soul  and  Christ  to  be 
satisfied  with  lower  levels  and  measures  than  the  love  of 
earth  ? 

Lastly,  we  shall  find  the  truth  of  our  Lord's  undying 
words  when  we  enter  into  His  joy.  Heaven  will  surely  not 
be  the  joy  of  an  infinite  and  continuous  recipiency,  but  the 
full  comprehension  of  and  the  uttermost  response  to  the 
Saviour's  love.  With  all  the  saints  may  we  comprehend 
the  height,  depth,  length,  and  breadth  of  it !  May  we 
know  that  which  passes  knowledge,  and  lose  ourselves  in 
a  supreme  gift  to  Him  !  Not  until  we  chant  the  endless 
hallelujah,  not  until  we  yield  ourselves  absolutely  to  our 
Lord  God  for  eternity,  having  no  will  but  His,  shall  we  fully 
know  how  much  more  blessed  it  is  to  give  than  to  receive. 


ST.    PAUL    A    DEBTOR. 


Preached  in  Ihe  Chapel  of  Mansfield  College,   Oxford,  [c^nitary  iSlh, 
1891,  ?'//  aid  of /he  loork  of  the  Londoti  Missio7iary  Society. 


ST.    PAUL    A    DEBTOR. 

"I  am  debtor  both  to  Greeks  and  to  Barbarians,  both  to  the  wise 
and  to  the  foolish.  So,  as  much  as  in  me  is,  I  am  ready  to  preach  the 
gospel  to  you  also  that  are  in  Rome." — Rom.  i.  14  (R.V.). 

St.  Paul  himself  preserved  for  the  Church  the  priceless 
words  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  "  it  is  more  blessed  to  give 
than  to  receive."  He  implied  in  these  very  words,  that  it  is 
blessed  to  receive  the  gifts  of  love,  to  receive  the  smile  of 
reconciliation  after  estrangement,  to  receive  the  forgiveness 
of  sins,  the  power  and  opportunity  for  service.  What  is 
there  that  we  have  not  received  ?  Christian  experience 
undoubtedly  turns  upon  the  readiness  of  a  man  to  receive 
unmerited  and  unearned  mercy.  It  is  "blessed"  when 
pride  humbles  itself  to  receive  an  unexpected  boon.  We 
are  pensioners  on  the  bounty  of  the  great  Giver,  and  we 
are  the  daily  recipients  of  gifts  from  a  past  which  we  cannot 
requite,  gifts  from  our  teachers  and  leaders,  gifts  from 
society  which  we  have  done  so  little  to  create,  and  from  the 
noble  hearts  and  bleeding  hands  of  those  who  have  suffered 
and  died  for  us.  It  is  blessed  to  receive  all  these  things, 
but  it  is,  said  the  Holy  One,  the  Incarnate  Word,  7nore 
blessed  to  give, — and  He  knew.  Giving  is  more  like  God 
Himself,  and  is  the  very  note  or  mark  of  His  essential 


16  ST.   PAUL  A  DEBTOR. 

Being.  He  is  the  fountain  of  life.  He  supplies  all  our 
need.  He  satisfies  the  desire  of  every  living  thing.  The 
joy  and  blessedness  of  Almighty  God  is  His  infinite 
capacity  to  give  us  all  that  we  enjoy,  all  that  we  need. 
Though  He  knows  perfectly  the  blessedness  of  receiving 
the  love,  the  appreciation  of  His  children,  the  reciprocation 
of  the  Eternal  Love,  the  homage  of  the  spirits  to  whom  He 
has  given  their  life;  yet  He  who  came  from  His  bosom,  tells 
us  that  there  are  degrees  even  in  the  blessedness  of  God, 
and  that,  as  between  giving  and  receiving,  there  is  no 
uncertainty  :  "  It  is  viore  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive." 

This  was  also  the  experience  of  the  Incarnate  Love 
itself.  He  knew  the  blessedness  of  receiving  the  cup  of 
cold  water  from  one  who  was  made  happy  by  bestowing  it. 
The  breaking  of  the  alabaster  box  of  costly  nard  gave  Him 
joy  ;  but^\\,  was  more  blessed  in  His  esteem  to  give  Himself, 
to  surrender  His  all  of  earthly  solace,  to  lay  down  His  life 
as  a  ransom  for  many.  Brethren  of  this  Lord  Jesus,  believe 
Him  and  all  His  prophets  and  apostles  when  they  teach 
you,  by  word  and  by  example,  that  the  fragrant  essence  of 
the  new  and  Divine  life  is  to  give  its  best,  to  give  its  all, 
to  give  and  relinquish  itself  to  others. 

Now,  when  St.  Paul  said,  "I  am  a  debtor  to  Greek 
and  Barbarian,  to  wise  and  foolish,"  had  he  forgotten  these 
words  of  the  Lord  Jesus  ?  Did  he  find  it  necessary  to  fall 
back  upon  the  sense  oi  duty^  in  order  to  sustain  the  flagging 
energies  of  his  love  ?  No  !  The  love  which  gives,  is  in  its 
nature  more  blessed  than  the  duty  which  prompts  and 
urges  us  to  some  unwelcome  task. 

We  do  not  deny  that  some  cases  may  arise  when  even 
love  needs  the  spur  of  duty,  when  *'  the  stern  daughter  of 
the  Voice  of  God  "  urges  even  the  heart  of  love  to  do  its 


ST.    PAUL  A   DEBTOR.  >jy 

best.  Still,  I  cannot  but  think  that  when  St.  Paul  used 
these  memorable  words,  or  when  he  said,  *'  Woe  is  unto  me 
if  I  preach  not  the  gospel,"  the  sense  of  debt  to  different 
classes  of  men  was  but  the  travail  pang  of  an  inward  and 
overpowering  love  to  his  brother-man,  which  thus  expressed 
itself. 

The  possession  of  a  life-giving  secret  may,  to  a  selfish 
and  unrenewed  nature,  occasionally  suggest  nothing  but  per- 
sonal advantage ;  and,  at  times,  a  limitless  love  may  yearn  and 
travail  in  the  effort  to  express  itself.  The  Samaritan  lepers 
soon  became  ashamed  of  their  selfishness,  and  they  said 
one  to  another,  "  We  do  not  well.  This  day  is  a  day  of  good 
tidings,  and  we  hold  our  peace  :  if  we  tarry  till  the  morning 
light,  punishment  will  overtake  us.  Now  therefore  come, 
let  us  go  and  tell  the  king's  household."  ^  So  St.  Paul  felt 
that  the  whole  world  demanded  from  him  the  healing  truth 
to  which  he  had  given  the  unqualified  assent  of  his  entire 
nature.  He  seemed  to  see  the  bewildered  world,  the 
Caesars,  the  philosophers,  the  slaves,  the  cultivated  few, 
and  the  toiling  millions,  rise  from  their  places  and  take  him 
by  the  throat,  and  cry,  "  Pay  us  that  which  thou  owest." 
His  sense  of  the  brotherhood  of  man  was  becoming  so 
strong,  so  intense  in  him,  that  he  found  that  he  had  no 
right  to  retain  these  tidings  of  great  joy  to  all  people 
locked  up  in  his  own  breast.  The  passion  of  his  love  to 
Christ  and  to  those  for  whom  Christ  died  constrained  him  ; 
and  so,  in  the  sublime  uprising  of  a  love  that  was  stronger 
than  death,  he  said,  *'  I  am  a  debtor," — "  I  am  a  debtor : 
I  must  pay  my  debt  to  old  and  young,  to  Greek  and  Jew, 
to  Barbarian,  Scythian,  bond  and  free."  Can  we  who  glory 
in  the  name^  in  the  teaching  and  life  of  St.  Paul,  catch  a 
'  2  Kings  vii.  9. 


78  ST.   PAUL  A  DEBTOR. 

little  of  his  spirit  ?  Can  we  take  the  world  of  men  upon 
our  heart,  and,  with  the  certitude  born  of  living  communion 
with  the  great  Master  and  Lord  of  St.  Paul,  can  we  sting 
with  the  scourge  of  duty  our  transcendental  sentiment  into 
some  definite  lines  of  action  ?  can  we  rise  up  out  of  our 
comforts  and  our  culture,  from  our  self-indulgent  dallying 
with  truth,  and  proclaim  with  a  new  and  even  passionate 
outburst  of  love,  "  We  are  debtors — we  are  debtors  to 
Greeks  and  Barbarians,  to  wise  and  foolish.  So,  as  much  as 
is  possible  to  us,  we  are  ready  to  preach  God's  gospel  of 
righteousness  and  love  to  every  creature  "  ? 

When  the  proposal  shapes  itself  in  this  practical  form, 
some  anxious  thoughts  arise  within  us,  and  tend  to  depress 
our  enthusiasm.  Can  we  offer  the  religion  of  Englishmen 
to  the  hoary  East,  when  we  are  openly  discussing  whether 
we  have  a  religion  or  not  ?  Ought  we  to  carry  to  the 
heathen  world  the  assurance  of  a  Divine  Son  of  God,  who 
is  the  Saviour  and  King  of  men,  when  here,  at  home,  we 
often  permit  our  message  to  evaporate  into  vague  platitudes, 
and  substitute  ethical  speculation  for  a  revelation  from 
heaven,  and  social  proprieties  for  the  religious  life  ? 

European  thought,  we  are  told,  is  suffering  from  violent 
transitions.  It  is  said  everywhere  that  we  must  adopt  new 
platforms  and  new  methods  for  the  criticism  of  historic  facts 
and  literary  survivals;  and  that  we  are  in  gravest  doubt 
about  the  essence  of  our  message.  Can  we,  then,  venture 
to  break  into  the  Oriental  dream  with  our  unsettled 
problems  ?  Have  we  any  truth  worth  uttering  ?  Should 
we  succeed  in  waking  up  the  Brahmin  or  the  Buddhist 
ascetics  from  their  age-long  sleep  ?  At  least,  ought  not  our 
hands  to  be  clean  ?  Ought  we  not  to  compel  our  Govern- 
ment to  abolish  the  opium  traffic  as  a  means  of  Indiari 


ST.    PAUL  A  DEBTOR.  79 

revenue  before  we  presume  to  teach  morality  to  India 
or  China  ?  Should  we  not  wait  until  adventurous  traders 
cease  to  prey  upon  the  passions  of  savages  after  gunpowder 
and  ardent  spirits  ?  Would  it  not  be  rational  to  pause  until 
the  divisions  of  the  Church  are  healed,  and  we  have  reduced 
our  message  to  its  simplest  terms  and  forms,  which  no 
science  will  forthwith  rush  to  analyze,  and  which  will  prove 
itself  by  its  own  proclamation  to  be  true  ? 

Our  humble  answer  to  this  series  of  inquiries  is,  that  if 
the  principle  had  been  adopted  in  other  days,  civilization 
and  knowledge,  science  and  history  would  have  been 
strangled  in  their  birth.  If  Newton  had  waited  till  he  had 
solved  the  mystery  of  gravitation  before  enunciating  its  law, 
we  might  still  have  been  learning  scholastic  astronomy.  If 
Harvey  and  his  followers  had  waited  to  solve  all  the  mysteries 
of  the  circulation  of  the  blood  before  proclaiming  the 
luminous  working  hypothesis  which  has  been  so  great  a 
boon  to  medical  science  and  practice,  we  might  still  have 
been  floundering  in  the  bog  of  mediaeval  medicine.  Many 
analogous  illustrations  easily  suggest  themselves  with  respect 
to  the  same  law  of  obvious  duty.  If  St.  Paul  had  kept  his 
secret  until  the  conflict  between  the  synagogue  and  the 
Church  had  been  determined,  the  marvels  of  the  first  century 
might  have  been  delayed  for  a  hundred  years ;  and  then  it 
would  have  affected  human  destiny  with  a  feebler  touch  and 
with  diminished  fire.  St.  Paul  did  not  refuse  to  deal  with 
the  "waifs  and  strays"  of  Corinth  until  the  philosophers 
at  Athens  would  give  him  a  more  patient  hearing.  When 
Jews  contradicted  and  blasphemed,  and  judged  themselves 
unworthy  of  everlasting  life,  he  turned  to  the  Gentiles,  and 
drew  the  dividing  line  between  the  ancient  and  the  modern 
world. 


So  ST.   PAUL  A  DEBTOR. 

Moreover,  the  differences  among  Christians  orb  themselves 
far  less  conspicuously  in  face  of  a  dominant  and  fanatical 
heathen  superstition  than  they  do  here,  where  they  are  often 
contending  with  each  other  and  competing  for  general 
favour.  After  all  deductions,  the  voice  of  the  Churches 
and  the  message  of  Christendom  is  one  voice,  and  one 
message  is  being  offered  to  the  world.  Further,  we  cannot 
and  dare  not  wait  until  the  morning  breaks,  and  until  we 
have  purified  our  own  English  life  and  washed  out  the 
stains  from  the  national  escutcheon. 

Men  often  incorrectly  estimate  the  direct  message  from 
heaven,  which  may  and  can  be  spoken  by  those  who  have 
seen  the  heart  of  God  and  who  are  sanctified  by  the  Word 
and  Spirit  of  the  Lord,  not  by  what  it  is  in  itself,  but  by 
tlie  indirect  effect  of  the  Christian  principle  of  a  few  upon 
society  at  large.  Very  slowly  indeed  has  the  standard  of 
righteousness  risen,  even  in  Christendom.  With  tardy  step 
has  legislation  been  leavened  with  Christian  principles. 
The  wrongs  of  women,  the  traffic  in  slaves,  private  wars, 
fierce  competitions,  militarism,  self-indulgence  and  vice  on 
colossal  scales  have  very  gradually  and  partially  yielded  to 
the  inward  pulses  of  Christ's  religion  in  individual  hearts. 
Most  certain  is  it  that  we  have  yet  to  see  a  Christian  nation 
and,  I  almost  dare  to  say,  a  truly  Christian  society.  All  the 
victories  of  the  Cross  have  been  won  in  spite  of  these  odds. 
And  the  missionaries  of  Christ  have  always  done  their 
work  against  these  tremendous  difficulties ;  i.e.  they  have 
preached  their  gospel  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  their 
ministry  has  been  all  along  the  line  confronted  by  monstrous 
hypocrisies,  and  discounted  by  travesties  of  the  faith.  Lies, 
lust,  greed,  tortures,  offensive  wars,  slave  trades,  tyrannies, 
persecutions  wrought  by  so-called  Christians  have  always 


ST.   PAUL  A   DEBTOR.  8 1 

cast  their  deadly  shadows  over  the  great  enterprise.  But 
hugely  as  these  still  loom  to-day,  they  were  never  held  so 
much  in  check,  by  the  life  of  Christians,  as  they  are  at 
this  hour.  Nations  know,  as  they  never  knew  before,  that 
these  things  are  contrary  to  the  mind  and  will  of  Christ, 
and  must  yield  to  His  imperial  voice,  and  they  will  not  live 
even  in  the  region  of  politics,  or  commerce,  or  diplomacy, 
or  hierarchies,  when  once  the  Lord  of  men  rises  up  to  rule  : 
'•  Be  wise  now,  ye  kings  :  be  instructed,  ye  judges  of  the 
earth.  Serve  the  Lord  with  fear,  and  rejoice  with  trembling. 
Kiss  the  Son,  lest  He  be  angry,  and  ye  perish  out  of  His 
way,  when  His  wrath  is  kindled  but  a  litde."  Our  duty  and 
our  love  join  to  tell  us  that,  having  learned  the  great  secret 
of  remedying  the  evils  both  of  Christendom  and  heathendom, 
we  have  no  option — we  are  debtors  to  Greeks  and  Barbarians, 
to  the  wise  and  to  the  fooHsh.  Our  love  is  not  to  be  stifled 
by  our  difficulties,  and  we  must  put  forth  all  the  energy  we 
have,  to  overtake  the  work  that  was  left  undone  in  the  great 
ages  of  faith,  and  which  has  been  left  undone  by  our  fellow- 
workers  of  to-day. 

Some  of  the  deeper  questions  to  which  I  have  referred 
will  come  more  forcibly  into  view  when  we  survey  the  two 
great  classes  of  mankind  to  which,  like  St  Paul,  we  are 
debtors  to  make  known  the  riches  of  Christ,  debtors  to 
offer  the  living  bread,  debtors  to  preach  by  life  and  lip  the 
gospel  of  the  grace  of  God. 

The  Greek  and  the  Barbarian.  Many  who  are 
sceptical  about  the  message  we  have  to  deliver  to  them- 
selves, have  little  to  urge  against  missions  to  Barbarians, 
and  heartily  admit  that  it  has  been  an  immense  advantage 
to  the  Samoan  and  the  Sandwich  Islands,  to  Madagascar 
and  New  Guinea,  that  they  should  be  lifted  even  to  the 

G— 6 


S3  ST.   PAUL   A   btBTOR. 

level  of  English  Christianity.  The  story  is  often  told  of 
Charles  Darwin's  subscription  to  the  Patagonian  Mission. 
The  Agnostic  gives  an  ungrudging  sympathy  to  the  man 
who  single-handed  grapples  with  ferocious  cannibals,  tames 
them,  wins  them,  clothes  them,  shows  them  how  to  live, 
teaches  them  the  songs  of  the  universal  Church,  and  dies 
bravely  at  his  post.  Even  the  illusions  of  Christianity  are 
to  him  a  thousand  times  better  than  the  delusions  of  the 
New  Hebrides.  Men  like  Livingstone  and  Moffat,  Mackay 
and  Hannington,  Paton  and  Chalmers,  receive  the  homage 
of  those  who  can  see  that  Barbarians  are  lifted  from 
degradation  by  receiving  the  ideas  of  the  m.uch-decried 
Christianity  of  the  nineteenth  centur3\  This  result  is  not, 
however,  the  motive  of  the  missionary.  He  looks  beyond 
all  the  civilizing  effects  or  literary  results  of  the  enterprise. 
Soul  by  soul,  man  by  man,  these  Barbarians  must  be  taught 
what  manhood  means.  They  must  be  put  under  the  spell 
of  Divine  law,  and  be  won  by  the  Divine  love.  The  fact 
that  they  know  nothing  of  either,  makes  them  the  creditors 
of  the  apostle,  the  claimants  for  his  secret.  Their  misery 
and  hopelessness  unconsciously  press  the  claim.  This  is 
enough  for  any  man  who  has  caught  the  spirit  of  the  dying 
Christ. 

The  fact  is  proved  beyond  doubt  that  the  Negro,  the 
Australian,  Maori,  and  the  Patagonian  savage,  the  cannibal 
of  the  Islands,  the  hill  tribesmen  of  India,  the  Malagasy, 
the  Karens,  the  Pulliars,  and  the  hke,  can  and  do  appre- 
hend the  word  and  imbibe  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  become  so  far  imbued  with  the  mind  of  Jesus, 
as  to  serve,  to  suffer,  and  die  for  His  holy  name.  This  is 
a  commonplace  of  all  missionary  experience  from  the 
beginning  until  now.     For  the  most  part,  St.  Paul's  dictum 


ST.   TAUL  A   DEBTOR.  8^ 

is  demonstrably  true,  that  God  has  chosen  these  "weak 
things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  mighty,  and  things 
which  are  w/,  to  bring  to  nought  the  things  that  are."  For 
the  most  part,  the  vitalizing  changes  wrought  by  Christianity 
have  originated  in  the  lower  stratum  of  society,  and 
developed  upwards  until  they  have  become  conspicuous 
and  assured.  The  muster  rolls  of  martyrs  contain,  doubt- 
less, a  few  illustrious  specimens  of  sanctified  culture ;  but 
for  the  most  part  they  are  the  unnamed,  the  unknown,  who 
were  faithful  unto  death,  and  whose  blood  was  "the  seed  of 
Christians." 

This  startling  fact,  in  its  degree,  is  still  the  great  note  of 
the  Church  in  all  lands.  It  justifies  the  fervent  enthusiasm 
with  which  all  devoted  representatives  of  the  Church  do  now 
throw  themselves  upon  the  lowermost  classes  of  our  cities, 
devising  new  methods  to  win  them,  seeking  to  preoccupy 
their  minds  with  the  ideas  and  impulses  of  our  holy  faith. 
The  story  of  the  noblest  movements  in  the  history  of 
Christ's  kingdom — those  that  have  left  the  deepest  traces 
upon  Italy,  England,  and  Germany — is  the  story  of  holy 
men,  distinguished  by  high  scholarship  and  burning  hearts, 
who,  in  addition  to  their  culture  and  grace  and  commission, 
have  virtually  said  with  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  "  We  are 
debtors  to  Barbarian  and  Scythian,  to  bondslaves  and  serfs, 
to  waits  and  strays :  we  owe  them  the  payment  of  a  debt 
which  they  have  a  right  to  claim  at  our  hands."  At  this 
moment,  nine-tenths  of  the  missionary  field  is  crowded  with 
Barbarians,  with  savage  races,  with  the  uninstructed 
residuum  of  polytheistic  civilization,  with  the  victims  of 
tyranny,  of  barbaric  customs,  of  fierce  passions  and  cruel 
vices.  The  Apostle  Paul,  the  great  confessors  of  old,  the 
Catholic  missionaries,  the  reformers  of  Christendom,  our  own 


84  ST.   PAUL  A   DEBTOR. 

noble  society  during  the  whole  course  of  its  history,  from  its 
Tahitian  beginnings  to  its  most  recent  triumphs  in  Africa, 
New  Guinea,  and  Madagascar,  have  taken  the  same  motto  : 
"We  are  debtors  to  Barbarian  and  to  unwise,  to  the  down- 
trodden and  to  the  slave,  to  the  victims  of  our  trade- 
juggernaut,  to  the  ignorant  and  the  foolish."  St.  Paul  knew 
only  too  well  that  there  wxre  hordes  and  hosts  of  these 
Barbarians  ^wQXi  in  Rome  itself,  and  that  on  his  arrival  there 
he  might  have  to  commence  his  evangelistic  work  with 
common  soldiers,  with  jail-birds,  with  the  rabble  who 
clamoured  for  panein  et  circenscs^  with  Tryphenas  and 
Tryphosas,  wath  freed  men  and  fugitives  ;  but  he  declared 
himself  a  debtor  to  the  outcast  in  Rome,  quite  as  much  as 
to  the  saints  in  Caesar's  household. 

This  group  of  St.  Paul's  creditors,  and  of  ours,  does 
not  exhaust  his  obligations  or  drain  the  affluence  of  his 
love.  He  was  a  debtor  to  the  Greek  as  well  as  to  the 
Barbarian,  to  the  cultivated  as  well  as  to  the  ignorant,  to 
the  wise  and  prudent  as  well  as  to  babes.  So  when  w^e 
acknowledge  a  similar  debt  to  the  thoughtful  and  self- 
satisfied  Hindu,  to  the  Chinese  official,  to  the  Japanese 
scientist,  to  the  critical  Zulu,  to  the  esoteric  Buddhist  at 
home  or  abroad,  we  find  our  chief  anxiety  and  difficulty. 
Few  criticize  our  missionary  propaganda  to  the  Barbarian. 
They  thank  us  for  our  work,  and  reap  the  harvest  we  or 
our  fathers  have  sown,  with  no  little  appreciation  of  the 
martyr-like  pioneers ;  but  many  scoff  at  our  endeavour  to 
bring  the  gospel  of  the  Incarnation,  the  truth  of  the  life 
and  sacrifice  and  resurrection  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to 
bear  upon  the  literature,  traditions,  and  theosophies  of  the 
Eastern  world. 

St.  Paul  believed  with  a  profound  conviction  that  he 


ST.   PAUL   A   DEBTOR.  85 

had  a  message  which  would  disturb  the  dream  of  the 
Epicurean,  and  the  equanimity  of  the  Stoic ;  he  had  facts 
to  propound  to  the  most  dih'gent  student  of  nature  and  man 
that  could  not  be  found  among  any  of  the  Socratic  sects. 
Paul  was  even  passionately  driven  to  pronounce  sentence 
upon  polytheism,  and  its  moral  malaria;  and  he  dared 
to  tell  Platonist  and  Philonist  that  the  relation  between 
knowledge  and  virtue  had  not  been  solved  by  philosophy. 
He  could  speak  of  the  invisible  world  and  eternal  life  with 
a  realism  which  only  the  Mysteries  had  attempted,  and 
which  they  had  confined  to  an  initiated  few.  Paul  was 
ready  to  reveal,  to  preach,  that  "  unknown  God  "  whom 
cultivated  men  were  ignorantly  worshipping,  whether  under 
the  shadows  of  the  Palatine  or  within  the  sight  of  the 
Athenian  Acropolis.  At  the  present  hour,  we  have  the  dis- 
tinct conviction  that  whatever  truth  is  contained  in  the 
"  Sacred  Books  of  the  East,"  that  very  truth  is  expressed 
with  greater  clearness  in  the  Christian  Scriptures;  that 
whatever  truth  of  moral  order,  whatever  elevated  conception 
of  the  character  of  God,  or  of  Divine  Incarnation,  or  of 
human  apotheosis,  or  of  union  between  God  and  man,  has 
been  dreamed  of  in  heathendom  is  positively  achieved  and 
set  forth  in  Him  who  was  manifested  in  the  flesh ;  that  if 
the  Fatherhood  of  God  or  the  brotherhood  of  man  has 
been  faintly  conceived  or  declared  in  the  highest  develop- 
ments of  non-Christian  literature  or  observance,  these 
principles  have  received  a  culminating  and  demonstrable 
expression  in  the  life  and  death  of  our  Lord ;  that  the 
whole  theory  of  redemption  from  sin,  and  of  true  sanctity, 
of  conversion,  salvation,  and  deliverance,  is  verified,  and 
that  we  are  bound  to  make  it  known ;  and  that  the  whole 
method  and  principle  of  contact  and  communion  with  God 


86  ST.   PAUL  A  DEBTOR. 

through  faith  in  Christ  infinitely  transcends  all  the  methods 
of  Oriental  religion. 

Most  certainly,  unless  our  gospel  will  stand  this  test  of 
detailed  comparison  with  all  that  other  religions  have  to 
offer,  either  in  their  heroic  history  or  their  present  fruits, 
our  missionary  enterprise  will  collapse.  We  would  not 
offer  our  gospel,  even  to  the  Barbarian,  unless  we  could 
confidently  press  it  upon  the  wise  and  prudent,  upon  the 
most  thoughtful  Hindu  and  Buddhist,  upon  the  proudest 
Confucianist  or  Moslem. 

This  is  neither  the  place  nor  time  to  institute  the  com- 
parison, but  we  have  no  shadow  of  doubt  that,  when  Christ 
is  brought,  in  the  lustre  and  uniqueness  of  His  own  con- 
sciousness of  His  own  work  and  claims,  into  direct  com- 
parison with  the  supreme  7/ian  of  every  other  faith.  He  will 
prove  to  be  the  Lord  of  all,  the  King  of  these  kings  of  men. 

The  upshot  of  our  meditation  is  simply  this,  that  if  we 
are  alive  to  God  through  Christ,  if  we  are  irrefutably 
convinced  of  the  truth  about  man  given  to  us  in  His  life, 
cross,  passion,  and  glory,  we  must  throb  with  a  holy 
impulse  to  disclose  a  secret  so  life-giving  to  ourselves  and 
one  which  affects  the  whole  human  race.  Because  the 
gospel  of  Christ  deals  with  most  universal  facts  of  human 
nature,  and  bears  upon  the  destiny  of  every  human  being 
in  all  time,  we  can  trust  and  obey  it  for  ourselves. 

The  missionary  spirit  and  enterprise  become  powerful 
auxiliaries  to  the  proof  of  our  holy  faith.  We  see  in 
them  an  expression  of  that  which  is  most  essential  in 
Christianity.  If,  with  our  present  knowledge,  we  could 
have  stood  by,  when  the  first  man  revealed  the  conscious- 
ness of  his  relations  with  the  Supreme  Being  and  Law,  we 


ST.   PAUL  A  DEBTOR.  8/ 

should  have  discovered  the  highest  revelation  hitherto  made 
of  the  glory  and  nature  of  God. 

If  we  could,  with  our  present  apprehension  of  the  history 
of  the  world,  have  listened  to  the  intercessory  prayer  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  or  watched  His  dying  agony  or  heard  His  last 
words,  we  should  never  have  doubted  again  that  the  Word 
had  been  made  flesh,  and  that  His  glory  was  that  of  the  only 
begotten  Son,  full  of  grace  and  truth.  In  fellowship  with 
Him,  we  still  feel  that  we  have  the  one  secret  of  life  that  is 
worth  possessing.  When  we  come  face  to  face  with  the 
supernatural  marvels- which  the  truth  about  Christ  works  in 
human  hearts,  amid  all  kinds  of  men,  and  when  we  witness 
with  our  own  eyes  the  miraculous  change  which  declares 
that  a  man  is  reconciled  to  God,  and  has  entered  His 
kingdom,  we  too  become  more  alive  to  God,  and  begin  to 
live  in  both  worlds  the  life  eternal. 

This  missionary  spirit,  and  this  consequent  strengtlien- 
ing  of  Divine  life,  is  not  confined  to  youth  or  maiden,  to 
veteran  or  to  pioneer  who  has  given  up  an  entire  existence 
to  the  enterprise.  It  should  be  the  spirit  of  every  Church, 
of  every  Christian  college,  of  every  individual  who  professes 
or  calls  himself  a  Christian,  It  is  the  most  vivid  form  of 
consecration  to  God,  and  the  most  certain  sign  and  seal  of 
the  blessed  life. 

While  yielding  ourselves  to  its  Divine  captivation,  wo 
cannot  despair  of  any  human  soul.  Circumstances  may 
degrade,  pride  may  stupefy,  self-indulgence  may  paralyze, 
doubt  may  bewilder,  superstition,  tradition,  evil  habits, 
inherited  vice  may  check  our  hope ;  but  we  know  that  in 
the  knowledge  of  the  only  veritable  God  and  Jesus  Christ 
Himself,  the  Apostle  of  God  and  High  Priest  for  man,  we 
have  eternal  life.     There  is  no  spell  which  has  been  wound 


88  ST.   PAUL  A  DEBTOR. 

about  a  human  soul  which  will  not  vanish  before  the  light 
of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus 
Christ.  No  greater  blessing  can  enrich  our  life  than  a 
mighty  hope  for  our  brother-man.  In  cultivating,  in  sustain- 
ing, the  missionary  spirit  and  hope,  we  catch  a  glimpse  of 
the  sunrise  that  is  lighting  the  horizon  of  time,  and  we  are 
preparing  "the  dawn  that  is  spread  upon  the  mountains." 
None  have  penetrated  the  invisible  so  far,  or  are  so  sure 
of  the  heart  and  of  the  power  of  the  Son  of  God,  as  those 
who  are  verily  acting  on  the  motive  which  mastered  the 
great  apostle's  ministry,  and  who  can  do  no  other  than  cry, 
"  We  are  debtors,  we  are  debtors  to  Greek  and  barbarian, 
to  wise  and  unwise,  insomuch  as  we  are  ready  to  proclaim 
the  gospel  of  an  infinite  and  righteous  love  to  every 
creature." 

The  dawn  of  the  eternal  day  will  break  over  the 
earthly  life  of  that  young  heart  that  consecrates  itself  to 
this  high  service.  Brethren,  you  have  but  one  life  to  live. 
To-day  it  is  yours  to  give  it  to  the  grandest  work  that  is 
being  done  among  men.  To-morrow  you  may  have  passed 
the  crossing  of  the  ways.  Consecrate,  then,  this  precious 
treasure  to  the  noblest  service,  for  our  Lord  Christ's  sake. 


THE   SEED   OF    THE   KINGDOM. 


Preached  at  East  Parade  Chapel^  Leeds 


THE  SEED  OF  THE  KINGDOM. 

"And  He  said,  So  is  the  kingdom  of  God,  as  if  a  man  should  cast 
seed  upon  llie  earth  ;  and  should  sleep  and  rise  night  and  day,  and  the 
seed  should  spring  up  and  grow,  he  knowelh  not  how.  The  earth 
bearcth  fruit  of  herself;  fust  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  then  the  full  corn 
in  the  ear.  But  when  the  fruit  is  ripe,  straightway  he  puttcth  forth 
the  sickle,  because  the  harvest  is  come,"— -Mark  iv.  26-29. 

The  parable  of  the  Sower,  as  it  is  given  by  each  of  the 
three  Evangelists,  commences  with  the  words,  '•  Behold,  a 
sower  went  forth  to  sow."  There  is  no  introductory  phrase 
whatever.  It  is  true  that,  when  expounding  the  parable  to 
His  disciples  and  those  that  were  with  Him,  our  Lord 
characterized  the  seed  as  **  the  seed  of  the  kingdom  ;  "  but 
he  made  no  such  reference  in  the  original  utterance  of  the 
great  enigma.  Now,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  among 
the  vast  crowds  who  waited  on  Him,  those  only  who  re- 
mained behind  for  further  instruction  gained  glimpses  of 
the  meaning  of  His  discourse.  The  image  was  one  frequently 
used  by  classic  and  Oriental  writers,  when  discussing  the 
relations  of  the  teacher  to  the  taught. 

A  Galila^an  crowd,  accustomed  to  the  use  of  figurative 
language,  would  perceive  at  a  glance  some  part  of  the  great 
Teacher's  meaning  ;  and  since  many  among  them  were 
''wayside  hearers,"  and  others  resembled  the  dry  shallow 
soil  upon  a  rocky  place,  the  sense  of  disappointment  may 


92  THE   SEED   OF   THE   KINGDOM. 

have  thrown  a  cloud  upon  their  faces,  while  their  feelings 
ran  in  this  fashion — "  What  has  this  to  do  with  the  kingdom 
of  God  ?  We  want  some  manifest  visible  assurance  that 
that  kingdom  has  come  nigh  unto  us  ;  '  we  would  see  a  sign 
from  heaven.'  All  that  this  Man  has  said  to  us,  as  yet, 
describes  merely  the  relation  of  the  Teacher  to  the  taught ; 
there  is  no  special  reference  to  that  kingdom  which  all 
our  prophets  have  taught  us  to  expect,  to  the  scene  of  its 
splendours,  or  the  method  of  its  growth.  Why  does  He  not 
tell  us  how  He  is  going  to  establish  it?  Let  Him  take  to 
Himself  His  great  power  and  reign,  that  we  may  flock  to 
His  standard  and  crown  Him  king  of  the  world."  Perfectly 
true,  there  was  no  direct  allusion  made  to  the  kingdom,  no 
sure  promise  of  its  approach,  and  no  explicit  definition  of 
its  form  ;  but,  there  was  a  prior  truth,  one  that  His  hearers 
failed  to  recognize,  one  apart  from  which  there  can  be  no 
visible  kingdom  at  all.  Nevertheless,  the  Redeemer  of  the 
world,  from  His  knowledge  of  what  was  in  man,  seems  to 
compassionate  this  earnest  cry  of  disappointment,  and  pro- 
ceeds to  show,  that  although  the  point  of  His  first  parable 
only  referred  indirectly  to  the  establishment  of  His  kingdom, 
and  though  the  resemblance  which  He  instituted  only  con- 
cerned that  between  the  activity  of  seed  and  certain  well- 
known  realities  of  the  spiritual  world,  and  though  it  was 
used  in  the  main  to  illustrate  the  responsibilities  of  the 
hearers  of  His  gospel;  yet  the  image  itself  was  capable  of 
new  expansion.  The  parable  of  the  Sower  might  yield  at 
His  touch  royal  similitudes,  and  be  made  to  give  forth  the 
trumpet-peal  which  would  usher  in  the  advent  of  their  King. 
Therefore  was  it  that,  according  to  St.  Mark,  He  exclaimed, 
"  So  is  the  kingdom  of  God,  as  if  a  ma?i  should  cast  seed  tipon 
the  earth"    That  little  word  "  so  "  appears  to  me  to  indicate 


THE   SEED   OF   THE   KINGDOM.  93 

that  some  conversation  took  place  here,  that  some  break 
had  occurred  in  the  thread  of  discourse,  that  some  inquiry 
had  been  made,  not  unlike  that  which  I  have  suggested, 
and  which  not  only  evoked  the  parable,  but  its  Divine 
interpretation.  Our  Lord  seems  to  say,  "  However  striking 
may  be  the  resemblance  that  exists  between  the  sowing  of 
seed  upon  different  kinds  of  soil  and  the  preaching  of  truth 
to  men,  there  is  a  still  more  powerful  resemblance  possible 
between  the  action  of  seed  and  the  establishment  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  in  the  world."  A  clear  perception  of  this 
purport  of  the  parable  may  remove  a  difficulty  which  sug- 
gests itself  concerning  the  agency  here  represented  by  "the 
MAN  "  who  casts  seed  into  the  ground. 

If  the  reference  be  simply  to  the  agency  made  use  of 
-for  the  dissemination  of  Divine  truth,  then  the  first  part 
of  the  parable  is  quite  comprehensible,  but  the  last  part 
becomes  obscure.  In  Avhat  sense  is  "  the  man  "  who  sows 
the  seed  to  put  in  the  sickle  and  gather  in  the  ripened 
harvest  ?  On  the  other  hand,  if  "  the  Son  of  God,"  the 
true  Lord  of  the  harvest,  is  indicated,  how  can  it  be  said  of 
Him  that  ZTt' knows  not  how  the  seed  grows  and  germinates? 
This  difficulty  has  perhaps  arisen  principally  from  failing  to 
perceive  that  it  is  not  one  single  sowing  of  the  seed,  upon 
one  class  of  hearers,  that  is  spoken  of  here,  but  the  whole 
of  that  sowing  to  the  end  of  time — a  sowing  in  which  Christ 
participated  for  a  short  period  during  His  earthly  ministry, 
but  which  He  then  entrusted  to  those  who  had  accepted 
His  mission  ;  while  *'  the  harvest  "  represents  the  final  con- 
summation of  the  kingdom,  in  which  it  will  be  His  preroga- 
tive to  act  exclusively  and  alone.  The  image  would  have 
been  obscure,  if,  when  the  great  Teacher  intended  to 
indicate  the  mighty  agency  which  should  be  employed  for 


94  THE  SEED  OF  THE   KlNGDOiM. 

the  establishment  of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  the  earth,  He 
had  made  use  of  an  illustration  which  in  that  period  of 
history  could  have  been  applicable  only  to  Himself,  while 
He  shows  that  the  final  development  of  the  whole  is  pointed 
at  by  alluding  to  the  great  harvest,  to  the  sickle  of  Divine 
Providence  and  Judgment,  and  to  the  granaries  of  heaven. 

There  are,  then,  more  reasons  than  one  for  attending  to 
the  opening  words  of  this  parable,  '-'And  He  said,  So  is  the 
kingdom  of  God,  as  if  a  man  should  cast  seed  into  the 
ground." 

The  parable  as  a  whole  suggests  (i)  The  adaptation 
of  the  seed  of  the  kingdom  to  the  condition  of  humanity. 
(2)  The  law  of  its  development.     (3)  The  ultimate  result. 

I.  The  adaptation  of  the  seed  to  the  condition  of 
humanity.  "  He  said.  So  is  the  kingdom  of  God,  as  if  a 
man  should  [cast  seed  upon  the  earth ;  and  should  sleep 
and  rise  night  and  day,  and  the  seed  should  spring  up  and 
grow,  he  knovveth  not  how.  The  earth  beareth  fruit  of 
herself;  first  the  blade,  then  the  car,  then  the  full  corn 
in  the  ear.  But  when  the  fruit  is  ripe,  straightway  he 
putteth  forth  the  sickle,  because  the  harvest  is  come." 

Christ  appears  here  to  occupy  the  position  of  the  first 
Sower.  He  is  the  first  link  of  the  mighty  chain  of  agency 
that  He  was  calling  into  existence,  by  which  the  sublimest 
truths  about  God  should  be  brought  into  contact  with 
human  hearts  and  human  society.  By  "the  earth,"  I 
conceive  that  He  meant,  not  any  individual  mind,  not  any 
one  assembly  of  men,  not  any  particular  congregation  or 
community,  but  the  human  race.  He  referred  to  all  the 
instincts,  habits,  tastes,  opinions,  philosophies,  and  institu- 
tions of  mankind,  even  to  the  uttermost  limits  of  place  and 
time, — to  the  whole  of  that  vast  and  complicated  structure 


THE   SEED   OF   THE   KINGDOM.  95 

which  can  be  directly  or  indirectly  permeated  and  affected 
by  the  truth  of  God.  Such  a  conception  of  the  *' earth" 
on  which  the  seed  of  the  kingdom  would  be  cast,  was 
adapted  to  draw  the  minds  of  His  hearers  away  from  their 
national  prepossessions  and  prejudices.  They  would  obtain 
more  comprehensive  views  of  the  true  kingdom  of  God,  if 
they  could  once  deign  to  accept  the  idea  of  a  ki?igdoin 
which  was  based  upon  fritth,  of  the  victories  of  a  King  which 
would  be  gained,  not  by  armies,  but  by  the  proclamation  of 
the  amnesty  of  heaven,  if  they  could  appreciate  the  founda- 
tions of  a  kingdom  laid  by  a  process  so  apparently  incon- 
spicuous as  the  preaching  of  a  great  gospel.  Christ  teaches 
us  that,  in  addition  to  all  the  mighty  human  impulses  tliat 
are  germinating  in  society,  and  in  addition  to  all  the  king- 
doms that  are  arising  in  the  world,  and  independently  of 
the  sovereign  power  that  exists  inherently  in  the  large  con- 
ceptions and  fertile  discoveries  and  creative  intelligences  of 
every  age,  there  is  the  seed  of  another  kingdom,  which  is 
not  of  earthly  origination  nor  of  human  creation,  and  which, 
wheresoever  it  germinates,  creates  a  province  of  the  king- 
dom of  God.  "  The  kingdom  of  God  is  as  if  a  man  should 
cast  seed  upon  the  earth."  By  a  man  casting  seed  into  the 
ground,  sleeping  and  rising  night  and  day,  and  in  ignorance 
of  the  processes  by  which  the  seed  springs  up,  Christ 
pointed  to  the  whole  of  that  human  agency  by  which  the 
truth  of  God  shall  be  sown  in  the  ground  of  humanity.  It 
is  indeed  a  Divine  seed  of  awful  potency  and  glorious 
possibility,  but  the  sowing  of  it  is  entrusted  to  human 
hands. 

The  germination  and  development  of  the  kingdom  of 
God  in  any  class  of  institution,  character,  or  thought  must 
necessarily  be  effected  through  the  exertion  of  its  influence 


96  .  THE  SEED   OF   THE  KINGDOM. 

on  individuals.  Now  the  processes  by  which  these  tilings 
are  accomplished  are  profound  and  often  inscrutable. 
Nothing  is  more  manifest  to  the  sower  of  the  seed  than 
the  transformations  which  occur  in  individuals  and  com- 
munities under  the  influence  of  this  truth  ;  but  where,  when, 
and  how  the  result  has  been  produced,  "  he  knoweth  not." 
The  effects  can  be  traced,  the  results  are  patent,  but  the 
seed  springs  and  grows  up  "  he  knoweth  not  how."  Verily, 
all  workers  who  do  so  much,  and  know  so  little,  are  virtually 
warned  by  this  parable  not  to  be  searching  at  the  roots,  not 
to  be  over  careful  about  results,  nor  self-tormented  about 
the  final  issues  of  the  sowing.  As  men,  we  know  no  more 
about  these  things  than  does  the  husbandman  who  has  cast 
seed  into  the  ground,  and  leaves  the  wondrous  influences 
of  sun  and  shade,  of  dew  and  zephyr,  of  frost  and  rain,  to 
co-operate  with  the  pent-up  forces  of  the  seed,  and  bring 
about  the  divinely  predestinated  result. 

"Sleeping  and  rising  night  and  day"  simply  alludes  to 
the  withdrawment  from  the  scenes  and  avocations  of  daily 
life  of  the  Christian  worker.  It  tells  us  how  the  sower 
leaves  his  seed  with  God,  incapable  of  taking  another  co- 
operative step  in  the  process  of  its  germination.  There 
may  be  in  it  a  remote  reference  to  the  Son  of  Man  as  the 
Head  of  this  human  agency.  If  so,  it  was  of  His  humanity 
that  the  parable  speaks  :  and  a  dim  prophecy  perchance 
is  involved  of  the  solemn  sleep  of  His  death,  a  hint  given 
even  of  His  withdrawment  to  the  scene  where,  though  not 
constantly  watching  and  tending  the  seed,  He  is  engaged 
in  pouring  out  the  Divine  influence  on  which  all  results  are 
dependent,  by  which  alone  they  can  be  accomplished.  It 
is  only  in  this  sense  that  He  can  be  said  to  leave  the  seed 
to   itself;    not   indeed   without   the   daily   supply   of  His 


THE   SEED    OF   THE   KINGDOM.  9/ 

spiritual  power,  nor  without  the  quickening  sunbeams  of 
His  providential  favour  and  the  gently  whispering  breath 
of  His  Spirit;  but^  though  "  present"  by  the  power  of  His 
Spirit,  the  manifestation  of  His  humanity  is  suspended.  He 
is  hidden  in  the  light  of  God.  He  would  have  us  to  under- 
stand that  He  is  waiting  for  the  results  of  His  work,  expect- 
ing the  harvest  of  the  world.  So  far  as  it  is  true  that  He 
will  come  again  to  us,  He  is  now  absent.  In  proportion 
to  the  fulness  of  His  ultimate  triumph  and  the  glory  of  the 
final  display  of  His  interest  in  us,  and  of  His  great  mani- 
festation when  every  eye  shall  see  Him,  we  must  regard 
this  intervening  period,  in  which  He  is  hiding  Himself 
from  our  gaze,  as  an  absence.  He  has  gone  His  way.  He 
will  come  again.  We  have  no  question  at  all  that  the 
harvest  of  the  world  will  ripen,  that  the  powers  of  conviction 
will  become  irresistible,  that  the  manifestation  of  His  true 
nature  will  eventually  be  so  conspicuous  and  transcendent 
that  every  eye  will  see  Him.  But  we  cannot  say  this  yet 
of  any  single  generation,  since  the  gates  of  heaven  closed 
behind  Him.  If  we  contrast  the  ages  of  delay  with  the 
sublime  fruition  of  all  our  prophetic  hopes,  we  must  say 
with  the  angels,  ''  He  is  not  here."  The  seed  is  sown,  the 
great  Sower  is  waiting  to  return  to  the  harvest-field.  Mean- 
while, "the  earth  bringeth  forth  fruit  of  itself"  In  the 
earth  there  exist  all  the  elements  which  subsequently  con- 
tribute to  the  substance  of  the  corn  j  in  like  manner  there 
are  existing  in  human  minds  capacities,  ideas,  feelings,  and 
tendencies  which  are  being  reconstituted  by  the  truth  of 
God.  Faculties  and  possibilities  are  lying  dormant  in 
liuman  life  and  society,  just  as  the  carbon,  nitrogen,  and 
various  salts  that  contribute  to  the  material  of  the  grain  of 
wheat  lie  in  the  earth  unused  and  unproductive  ;  but  when 

H— 6 


98  THE   SEED   OF   THE   KINGDOM. 

the  power  that  can  attract  them  from  their  lurking-places 
comes  into  contact  with  them,  they  organize,  act,  and 
re-act  upon  one  another,  and  as  they  show  the  signs  of 
combination  and  life,  they  prophesy  a  happy  future. 

The  idea  which  Christ  suggests  here,  is  the  exclusion 
of  the  agency  of  the  Sower  from  this  part  of  the  mighty 
process.  The  heart  of  man  finds  in  the  truth  of  God  some- 
thing essentially  adapted  to  give  life  to  the  dull,  apparently 
inert,  materials  of  which  it  is  composed.  Human  society 
finds  in  the  truth  of  the  Church  of  God  the  combining 
organizing  power  by  which  it  is  eventually  to  become  the 
kingdom  of  God. 

II.  The  parable  is  still  further  pregnant  as  it  reveals  the 
law  of  the  development  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  "  First 
the  blade,  then  the  ear,  then  the  full  corn  in  the  ear." 
This  is  a  beautiful  illustration  of  the  different  stages  of 
spiritual  growth,  somewhat  akin  to  the  division  by  the 
Apostle  John  into  "  little  children,"  '-young  men,"  and 
"  fathers ; "  and  by  the  law  of  interpretation  which  we 
think  we  have  discovered,  we  are  bound  to  consider  it  the 
law  of  the  progress  of  this  new  hfe  in  the  history  of  man 
and  in  the  records  of  God's  Church  ;  yet  the  exhibition  of 
this  law  on  the  grand  scale  is  the  consequence  of  its  truth 
in  the  history  of  every  individual  man  who  brings  forth 
fruit  with  patience.  It  is  because  fresh  life  and  infant  life 
is  poured  into  our  world  every  day,  that  the  whole  world  is 
ever  young ;  it  is  because  there  are  always  children  among 
us,  learning  the  results  of  previous  centuries  of  toil  and 
labour  and  discovery,  that  the  whole  race  is  ever  advancing  ; 
it  is  because  there  are  young  men  who  combine  the  vigour 
of  youth  with  the  resolution  of  age,  the  fire  of  enterprise 
with  the  calm  maturity  of  fruition,  that  the  world  is  ever 


TPIE   SEED   OF   THE   KINGDOM.  99 

Strong,  and  marches  forward  towards  the  fuhiess  of  its 
prime.  And  it  is  because  we  see  everywhere  God's  master- 
work,  man,  the  man  of  mature  years  with  his  strength  and 
his  knowledge,  his  wild  fancies  converted  into  the  energy 
of  imagination,  his  hasty  prejudices  chastened  or  uprooted, 
or  in  some  cases  perhaps  dignified  into  well-reasoned 
opinions,  his  character  rich  with  virtues,  and  his  whole 
existence  bearing  witness  to  the  life  he  has  lived,  that  we 
anticipate  the  day  when  the  entire  human  race  shall  have 
reached  such  a  manhood,  when  the  toils,  illusions,  and 
disappointments  of  the  world's  youth,  the  discoveries  of 
centuries,  the  failures  and  martyrdoms  encountered  in  the 
prolonged  search  after  truth,  shall  issue  in  the  full  com- 
munion of  humanity  with  nature,  and  the  blessedness  of 
the  bridal  between  heaven  and  earth. 

That  which  happens  in  the  great  world  of  men  becomes 
a  parable  and  type  of  the  Church  and  kingdom  of  God  on 
earth.  The  birth-cry  is  ever  sounding,  babes  in  Christ  are 
being  born  continually  into  the  kingdom.  The  regeneration 
of  men  is  not  a  dream,  but  a  blessed  reality.  The  little 
children  of  grace,  with  their  new  fresh  energy  of  wondrous 
beauty,  their  youthful  charm  and  hopefulness,  as  yet  the 
victim  of  no  heart-breaking  disappointment,  souls  sanguine 
but  yet  docile,  make  and  keep  the  Church  of  God  always 
young.  Moreover,  new  fields  of  holy  service  are  always 
being  covered  with  the  spring  verdure  of  ne^vborn  hope. 
The  Church  has  never  yet  lacked  the  ardour  of  fresh  enter- 
prise, the  charm  of  new  anticipations,  the  inspiration  of  the 
young  life  of  the  newly  born. 

Similarly  the  Church  takes  a  character,  as  the  world 
does,  from  its  fully  developed  life.  To  every  heart  in  which 
Divine  life  has  been  implanted,  there  must  come  the  hour 


100  THE  SEED  OF   THE   KINGDOM. 

of  conflict,  cf  struggle,  of  temptation,  of  doubt,  of  fear ; 
when  faith  trembles,  and  the  first  credulous  confidence  of 
the  child  is  staggered  by  the  cynical  and  sceptical  voices 
of  the  unregenerate  world  ;  when  that  which  is  taken  on 
trust  has  to  be  proved  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  intellect ; 
when  youthful  glories  of  child-like  faith  become  the  in- 
tuitions of  divine  certitude;  when,  after  having  believed 
that  it  might  know,  a  higher  experience  believes  because 
it  knows ;  when  manhood,  strength,  experience,  fruitfulness, 
characterize  the  Christian  life.  What  is  true  of  the  indi- 
vidual gives  a  character  to  the  whole  Church.  The  king- 
dom of  God  is  always  youthful,  but  it  is  also  always  manly. 
It  has  always  been  characterized  by  childlike  simplicity,  but 
it  is  always  throwing  off  the  follies  of  childhood.  It 
presents,  like  the  tropical  fruit-tree,  at  one  and  the  same 
time  the  tender  green  of  spring,  the  expanding  blossom  of 
summer,  and  the  ripening  fruit. 

It  would  be  well  for  the  critics  of  the  infantine  sim- 
plicity of  the  faith  of  God's  elect,  to  look  more  steadily  at 
the  manly  force  and  vigour  with  which  the  Church  is  ever 
being  taught  of  God  to  discard  its  own  prejudices,  to  grow 
in  grace  and  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
It  would  be  equally  wise  for  those  who  are  trembling  at  the 
signs  of  its  vigour  and  aghast  at  its  claim  of  glorious  liberty 
to  turn  and  see  how  fresh  and  beautiful  and  untarnished 
are  the  buddings  of  its  early  promise,  and  the  childlike 
ways  that  "  mark  the  newly  born." 

Once  more,  the  man  of  God  at  last  weathers  all  the 
influences  adverse  to  his  faith.  He  becomes  a  "  Father  in 
Christ  Jesus."  The  hour  arrives  when  old  temptations  are 
powerless  and  the  perplexities  of  his  prime  have  vanished, 
when  the  fascination  and  exaggerated  importance  of  this 


THE   SEED   OF   THE   KINGDOM!.  lOI 

world  dwindle  into  insignificance  and  its  pleasures  fade 
away  before  the  brightening  vision  of  heaven.  Then  hoary 
hairs  become  a  crown  of  righteousness,  and  we  see  standing 
on  the  shore  of  the  river  of  death  a  goodly  company  attired 
for  their  passage,  catching  on  their  brows  the  reflected  light 
of  heaven.  Our  eyes  brighten  as  we  see  them,  for  they 
give  an  earnest  and  prophecy  of  that  condition  of  the 
Church  when  the  last  conversion  shall  have  taken  place ; 
when  none  shall  need  to  say  to  his  brother,  "  Know  the 
Lord,"  when  all  shall  know  Him  from  the  least  to  the 
greatest ;  when  Jew  and  Greek  shall  have  ceased  their  con- 
tentions ;  when  Paul  and  John  shall  have  finished  their 
work ;  when  no  Stephen  and  no  Polycarp  shall  need  to  seal 
a  testimony  with  blood,  and  no  mere  worldly  patronage 
shall  threaten  the  spirituality  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ; 
when  the  last  conflict  with  Antichrist  shall  have  been 
victoriously  completed,  and  the  whole  world  shall  have 
become  one  vast  company  of  fervent  diligent  workers ; 
when  the  silver  cords  of  prayer  which  bind  this  world  to 
the  throne  of  God  shall  contract,  and  earth,  with  its  mighty 
burden  of  harmonious  sympathies,  shall  rise— rise  heaven- 
ward, until  all  that  intervenes  between  time  and  the  beatific 
vision  of  eternity  shall  be  the  thin  transparent  glass  of  the 
few  moments  of  probation  which  yet  await  those  "  that  are 
alive  and  remain,"  and  which  the  trumpet  of  the  Archangel 
shall  shiver  into  fragments.  "  First  the  blade,  then  the 
ear,  then  the  full  corn  in  the  ear,"  is  the  law  of  development 
for  the  kingdom  as  well  as  the  man. 

III.  The  parable  exhibits  in  the  circumstances  of  the 
harvest  the  ultimate  issues  of  the  kingdom.  "  When  the 
fruit  is  ripe,  straightway  he  putteth  forth  the  sickle,  because 
the  harvest  is  come." 


102  THE   SEED   OF   THE   KINGDOM. 

It  is  true  of  the  man,  and  true  of  the  kingdom  of  God 
as  a  whole. 

When  the  whole  fruitage  of  the  Divine  life  is  complete, 
the  great  Lord  of  the  harvest,  who  alone  has  the  power  of 
life  and  death,  puts  forth  His  sickle.  He  alone  knows  the 
reaping  time  for  souls.  With  Him  are  the  issues  of  life. 
He  uses  His  power  over  all  flesh,  and  His  dominion  over 
all  souls,  with  sublime  independence  of  our  foolish  criticism, 
with  infinite  tenderness  and  perfect  wdsdom.  When  the 
fruit  is  ripe,  then  He  puts  forth  the  sickle.  Some- 
times the  young  and  tender  plant  shows  all  its  fruit,  and 
He  sees  all  its  possibilities,  accepts  graciously  unfulfilled 
intentions,  and  garners  the  bare  promise  of  a  glorious 
summer.  But  there  are  those  who  bring  forth  fruit  in  old 
age  :  and  not  till  they  have  finished  all  their  course  does 
He  take  them  into  His  arms  and  reap  the  shock  of  corn 
fully  ripe.  And  we  may  rest  assured  that  the  great  harvest 
of  the  world  will  be  reaped  by  the  same  command,  when 
the  hour  of  its  full  fruitage  shall  have  struck.  He  waits 
patiently.  Henceforth  He  expects.  He  will  see  of  the 
travail  of  His  soul  and  be  satisfied. 

Far  from  us  be  the  dastardly  fear  that  the  harvest  of 
the  world  will  never  ripen,  that  the  difficulties  in  its  way 
are  insurmountable,  that  the  rampant  growth  of  Oriental 
heathenism  will  never  give  way,  that  the  blight  of  scepticism 
will  destroy  all  the  flower  of  the  field,  that  the  powers  of 
the  world  will  trample  all  the  golden  grain  into  dust.  God 
has  eternity  to  work  in,  and  can  wait ;  but  the  day  will 
dawn  when  the  harvest  will  be  ready  to  His  hand,  and  then 
immediately  He  will  put  in  the  sickle,  not  to  destroy  our 
hope,  but  to  fulfil  His  promise. 


THE     IDEAL     AND     STANDARD 
OF    CHRISTIAN    UNITY. 


rrca:hcd  at  Last  Parade  Chapel,  Leeds. 


THE  IDEAL  AND  STANDARD 
OF    CHRISTIAN    UNITY. 

"  That  they  may  all  be  one  ;  even  as  Thou,  Father,  art  in  Me,  and 
I  in  Thee,  that  they  also  may  be  in  Us  ;  that  tlie  world  may  believe  that 
Thou  didst  send  ]\Ie."— John  xvii.  21. 

Every  word  of  the  high-priestly  prayer  affords  thrilling 
insight  into  the  unique  consciousness  of  our  Divine  Lord. 
These  audible  communings  of  Jesus  with  the  Father  reveal 
facts  which  transcend  every  other  human  experience.  They 
expound  the  Incarnation ;  they  provide  a  part  at  least  of 
the  reason  which  led  St.  John  to  set  forth,  as  the  presupposi- 
tion of  his  Gospel,  that  "  the  Word  who  was  God,  and  was 
in  the  beginning  with  God,"  "  in  whom  was  life "  and 
"  light,"  actually  '*  became  flesh,  and  took  up  His  tabernacle 
amongst  us."  They  prove  that  "  He  who  was  in  the  bosom 
of  the  Father,  as  His  only-begotten  Son,  had  indeed 
declared  Him."  The  world  had  never  known  the  Righteous 
Father,  nor  apprehended  the  opulence  or  the  righteousness 
of  God's  eternal  love  to  the  humanity  whom  He  made  in 
His  image.  The  Son  of  God,  the  responsive  object  of  the 
Absolute  Love,  alone  comprehended  its  supreme  essence. 
"  No  one  knoweth  tlie  Father  save  the  Son,"  and  "  I  (said 
He)  have  known  Thee."     Therefore  He  alone  had  power  to 


I06  THE   IDEAL   AND   STANDARD 

declare  the  Name,  and  glorify  it  in  full  sight  of  the  men 
who  were  given  Him  out  of  the  world.  Astonishing 
personal  differences  characterized  these  men.  The  morbid 
doubtfulness  of  Thomas;  the  eager  credulousness  and 
impulsive  heroism  of  Peter ;  the  yearning  of  Philip  for  a 
vision  which,  unperceived  by  himself,  had  already  been 
granted  to  him;  the  despondency  oi  Judas  (not  Iscariot) 
because  no  crushing  or  convincing  effect  had  been  pro- 
duced on  the  hostile  world  around  them ;  the  silent 
mysticism  suppressing  the  passionate  intensity  of  the  best- 
beloved  John;  the  flashing  fire  of  that  other  "son  of 
thunder"  who  would  be  the  first  to  drink  His  cup  and 
follow  Him  through  mortal  agony  into  the  thick  darkness 
of  the  great  light ;  the  Messianic  literalism  of  Matthew  ;  the 
patient  meditations  of  Nathanael,  that  Israelite  without 
guile  j  the  dreams  of  the  political  zealot  Simo?i ;  the  brotherly 
love  and  practical  sense  of  Andrew ;  and  finally  the  self- 
repressing  modesty  of  the  son  of  Alpheus,  ever  lost  in  the 
greater  honours  of  his  brethren  and  namesakes, — made  the 
incomparable  eleven,  types  of  the  whole  of  redeemed 
humanity.  These  all  stood  or  kneeled  around  Him  as 
Jesus  poured  forth  this  wondrous  monologue. 

Profoundly  dissimilar  in  temperament,  education,  and 
capacity,  they  were  bound  to  each  olher  by  their  personal 
consecration  to  their  Lord.  He  loved  them  to  the  utter- 
most, and  they  constituted  a  veritable  brotherhood,  a 
crystalline  unity  of  many  flicets,  each  refracting  with  more 
or  less  of  perfect  colour  some  of  the  manifold  rays  of  the 
one  great  light  of  the  world.  The  apostles  were  not  the 
sole  objects  of  the  intercessory  prayer.  There  arose  before 
the  consciousness  of  Jesus  numberless  hosts  of  those  who 
would  believe  on  Him  throuo;h  their  word.     Tlie  desire  of 


OF  CHRISTIAN    UNITY.  lO/ 

His  perfect  love  embraced  these  also.  He  prayed  that 
they  might  become  one  in  Him,  that  Jew  and  Greek,  male 
and  female,  bond  and  free,  should  all  be  one,  that  every 
contradiction  and  antithesis  should  be  resolved,  that  all 
individualities  should  be  blended  into  one  all-conquering 
unity.  Thus  only  would  the  world  believe  that  the  Father 
had  sent  Him. 

We  can  never  read  the  prayer  without  a  deep  sinking  of 
heart,  because  from  the  first  day  until  now  the  gospel  of 
the  perfect  love  of  God  to  man  seems  rather  to  have 
accentuated  the  natural  antagonism  between  man  and  man, 
to  have  proved  a  sword  of  division  as  well  as  the  message 
or  implement  of  peace.  Nothing,  so  it  might  seem,  has 
more  pitilessly  separated  chief  friendships  and  divided 
hearts  that  otherwise,  like  kindred  drops^  had  blended  into 
one.  A  man's  foes  have  been  those  of  his  own  household, 
two  against  three,  three  against  two.  Communities  bearing 
Christ's  beloved  name  have  been  cruelly  rent  into  fragments. 
Church  against  Church,  heretic  against  heretic,  Catholic 
against  both  alike.  On  every  question  touching  the  idea 
of  God  and  of  man,  of  the  Christ  Himself  and  His  work,  of 
the  mission  of  the  Spirit,  of  the  organization  of  the  Church, 
nation  has  risen  against  nation,  the  East  and  the  West  have 
ceased  to  hold  communion  with  each  other,  and  these  in 
their  turn  have  vied  with  one  another  in  exasperating 
persecutions,  ceaseless  divisions^  and  bloody  reprisals. 
Who  dare  say  that  any  single  fraction  of  the  divided  body 
has  been  free  from  moral  blame  and  judicial  blindness? 
The  story  of  every  century,  from  the  second  to  the  nine- 
teenth, has  emphasized  in  its  degree,  and  on  well-ascertained 
grounds,  the  fact  that  the  Lord  kindled  fire  and  sent  a 
sword    upon    the    earth.      The   very   means    which    were 


I08  THE   IDEAL  AND   STANDARD 

professedly  adapted  to  harmonize  and  combine  have  been 
the  most  potent  in  dividing  hearts,  in  arresting  and  quench- 
ing the  Spirit.  There  are  no  pages  in  the  sad  history  of 
the  world  more  humiliating  and  deplorable  than  the  records 
of  sacrosanct  councils  and  rival  ministries,  than  the  clash  of. 
swords  over  the  meaning  of  the  sacraments,  ceremonies, 
and  creeds  of  the  Christian  Churches.  Volumes  are 
needful,  as  we  all  know,  to  present  a  full  picture  of  the 
passions  which  have  been  fostered  and  the  crimes  which 
have  been  committed  in  the  name  of  Him  who  prayed  in 
the  last  night  of  His  agony  that  all  w^ho  loved  Him  and 
believed  that  He  came  out  from  God  might  be  o)ie.  Never- 
theless, these  dividing  and  colliding  forces  may  receive  some 
explanation  when  we  review  for  a  moment  the  disintegrating 
tendencies  which  have  been  always  at  work  in  humanity. 

Consider  the  causes  of  disunion  existing  in  the  nature  of 
human  life  and  mind.  Confusing  differences  of  language, 
hereditary  characteristics  of  race,  the  measureless  influence 
of  climate,  soil,  and  food,  combine  to  induce  Jew  and 
Greek,  Chinaman  and  Saxon,  Barbarian  and  Scythian,  bond 
and  free,  to  pursue  different  ideals.  Within  the  limit  of  a 
single  nation  the  divergencies  of  sentiment  are  violent. 
Political  rancour  hardly  exceeds  in  virulence  the  exaspera- 
tion that  scientific  philologists  and  different  schools  of 
literary  and  artistic  criticism  can  express  with  reference  to 
each  other.  The  conservative  and  revolutionary  spirit  are 
always  wielding  drawn  daggers.  Fundamental  distinctions 
are  vehemently  maintained  as  to  the  very  sentiment  of 
beauty,  and  the  apphcation  even  of  the  standards  of  right 
and  wrong  to  particular  cases. 

All  this  is  aggravated  by  the  mysterious  isolation  of  each 
soul.     No  two  men  perhaps  have  ever  used  precisely  the 


OF  CHRISTIAN   UNITY.  IO9 

same  language,  or  meant  exactly  the  same  thing  by  identical 
words.  What  are  grammars,  dictionaries,  and  manuals  of 
different  tongues  but  well-meant  attempts  to  bring  about  a 
mere  make-belief  of  unity?  No  two  persons  have  precisely 
the  same  idea  about  themselves  or  God,  about  the  world  or 
the  universe.  Men  abreast  of  each  other  in  science,  in 
philology,  in  criticism  and  historical  knowledge,  fiercely 
and  contemptuously  contend  against  conclusions  at  which 
they  have  severally  arrived.  Doubtless,  master  minds 
which  have  a  certain  magnetic  power  of  enforcing  their  own 
ideas  upon  others  produce  some  approximations  to  unity, 
but  they  are  lame  and  halting.  Parliaments,  senates, 
universities,  brotherhoods,  reveal  notable  but  disheartening 
endeavours  after  a  unity  of  dissevered  souls. 

Even  religion  itself,  which  ought  to  blend  dissimilar 
natures  in  the  fervour  of  common  emotions,  has  been  less 
successful  than  so-called  civilization.  The  heathen  re- 
ligions are  as  numerous  as  the  types  of  character  which 
race  and  environment  have  generated.  That  which  is  God 
to  one  race  is  often  devil  to  another.  That  special  nation 
which  was  trained  for  two  thousand  years  to  bring  the  world 
to  understand  the  unity  and  glory  of  God  broke  into 
fragments,  while  internal  tendencies  vehemently  opposed 
each  other.  Hinduism,  Buddhism,  and  Mohammedanism 
have  been  professed  by  men  who  fiercely  contested  within 
their  own  pale  the  most  fundamental  principles  of  their' 
respective  faiths. 

What  shall  we  say  of  Christianity  in  this  respect? 
Apart  from  the  deadly  animosity  which  it  quickened  in  the 
breasts  of  its  enemies,  how  cruel  have  been  the  conflicts 
between  its  rival  schools  1  Doubtless  there  have  been 
moments  when  Christians  were  and  are  still  seen  to  love 


no  THE   IDEAL  AND   STANDARD 

one  another;  but  a  heathen  historian  bluntly  asserts  that 
the  rivalry  and  mutual  hostility  of  Christians  is  positively 
more  malicious  than  that  of  wild  beasts.  The  manner  in 
which  the  Arian,  Nestorian,  Monophysite,  and  Origenistic 
controversies  were  conducted  is  a  scandal  to  humanity. 
The  divisions  of  Protestantism  are  obvious  consequences 
of  the  despotic  claims  of  the  Papacy,  and  hostile  sections 
have  used  weapons  sharpened  and  poisoned  in  the  armouries 
of  theological  and  .ecclesiastical  rivalry  in  order  to  abase 
each  other.  The  efforts  to  produce  and  enforce  unanimous 
judgments  have  in  every  region  absolutely  and  signally 
failed. 

Nevertheless,  He  who  knew  what  was  in  man,  while 
suffering  in  the  furnace  of  volcanic  and  titanic  antagonisms, 
and  on  a  site  where  Eastern  and  Western  cultures  were 
coming  into  disruptive  contact,  where  Roman  and  Oriental 
civilization  were  fighting  no  phantom  battle,  on  the  night 
when  His  perfect  goodness  had  roused  the  deadliest 
malice  of  those  who  for  centuries  had  been  prepared  by 
God's  providence  to  receive  their  King,  but  who  were 
actually  plotting  "  the  deep  damnation "  of  His  judicial 
murder,  prayed  to  His  Father  that  all  His  followers  "might 
be  one."  A  unity  among  men  did  then  present  itself  to 
Him,  as  an  object  of  a  prayer  which  is  "  always  "  heard,  as 
the  prophecy  of  a  future  which  must  come  to  pass. 

What  was  that  unity?  Of  what  kind  and  according 
to  what  standard? 

Absolute  inidledual  oneness  and  perfect  unanimity  of 
\\yxm'AX\  judgment  could  not  have  been  His  meaning.  AVhat 
would  such  a  dream  as  this  require  before  it  could  be 
reahzed  ?  Surely  nothing  less,  to  begin  with,  than  a 
universal  language  and  identical  conditions  of  thought  for 


OF   CHRISTIAN    UNITY.  Ill 

all  men,  a  state  of  things  than  which  nothing  could 
be  less  thinkable.  Unanimity  of  judgment  would  mean 
that  the  endless  differences  due  to  climate,  race,  food,  and 
ideal  of  happiness  must  be  all  reduced  to  complete  uni- 
formity. All  the  indefinite  force  of  tradition,  of  inherited 
sentiment  and  taste^  must  be  counteracted.  Hindu  and 
Chinaman,  Saxon  and  Negro,  Arab  and  Italian,  Scandi- 
navian and  Hawaiian  must  severally  lose  their  idiosyncrasies. 
A  unity  which  demanded  such  uniformity  would  be  the 
practical  abolition  of  humanity.  None  of  the  striking 
individualities  of  our  race  could  survive.  There  would  be 
no  teachers,  no  rulers,  no  guides ;  no  discoverers,  no 
heroes,  no  masters  of  thought.  All  would  be  necessarily 
brought  up  or  down  to  the  same  dead  level.  Such  a  con- 
summation is  obviously  farther  off  than  ever,  and  utterly 
undesirable. 

But  further,  the  unity  for  which  the  blessed  Lord  prayed 
must  be  independent  of  the  forms  of  government  to  which 
either  in  Church  or  State  those  who  believed  on  Him 
would  submit.  Monarchy,  aristocracy,  democracy  were 
severally  ruling  the  affairs  of  the  world,  both  politically  and 
religiously,  in  the  first  century  as  much  as  they  are  in  the 
nineteenth.  The  unity  must  be  different  in  kind  from  that 
which  partially  enshrines  itself  in  these  forms.  It  must  bind 
the  despot  and  the  slave,  and  blend  the  warring  elements  of 
a  turbulent  republic  into  one  fellowship.  The  sage  and 
the  boor,  the  patriarch  and  the  child,  the  prince  and  the 
menial,  the  greatest  captain  and  his  humblest  thrall  must 
on  that  supposition  submit  to  the  same  regimen,  or  be 
excluded  from  the  unity.  The  more  the  prayer  is  pondered 
on  such  lines  as  these  the  more  impracticable  it  becomes, 
except  at  the  cost  of  the  final  martyrdom  of  man,  the  loss 


112  THE   IDEAL   AND   STANDARD 

of  individuality,  and  the  ultimate  repose  and  frigid  death  of 
all  that  makes  up  what  we  know  of  man. 

Is  the  prayer,  then,  a  hopeless  dream  ?  Can  it  be  heard 
in  any  sense  ?  Can  we  hope  for  or  desire  its  realization  ? 
Does  the  Lord  in  the  very  form  of  His  sublime  petition 
suggest  the  line  along  which  He  confidently  hopes  and 
predicts  its  realization  or  fulfilment  ?  "  That  they  all  may 
be  one ;  even  as  Thou,  Father,  art  in  Me,  and  I  in  Thee." 

This  very  analogy  suggests  that  the  oneness  was  not  in 
external  organization,  not  in  the  rules  of  some  ingeniously 
compounded  society,  not  in  some  uniform  style  of  self- 
manifestation,  but  "  as  Thou,  Father,  art  in  Me,  and  I  in 
Thee."  Now  the  burden  of  much  of  our  Lord's  teaching 
was,  "No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time" — "Ye  have 
neither  heard  His  voice,  nor  seen  His  shape."  But  on  the 
other  hand,  Jesus  Christ  was  visible,  audible,  present  to 
men.  His  face,  image,  voice,  word,  life,  and  example  con- 
stitute the  most  potent  fact  among  the  grandest  that  have 
been  achieved  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

The  union  between  the  Father  and  Son  was  the  positive 
antithesis  of  a  union  produced  by  external  forms,  machinery, 
or  organization.  It  was  absolute  but  not  visible,  a  mutual 
indwelling,  a  spiritual,  not  formal  unity.  This  simple  fact 
must  put  us  on  our  guard,  when  to  this,  that,  or  the  other 
organization  men  point  and  say  that  in  such  a  society 
is  the  union  among  believers  which  answers  to  the 
Redeemer's  prayer.  The  very  uniformity  provokes  sus- 
picion. The  material  completeness  and  conspicuous 
visibility  of  the  so-called  unity  show  that  it  fundamentally 
violates  the  analogy  which  clieered  the  dying  soul  of  Jesus. 

The  unity  for  which  He  prayed  could  not  be  for  a  funda- 
mental resemblance   in  self-manifestation;   seeing  that   it 


OF   CHRISTIAN    UNITY.  II 3 

was  to  be  as  "  'Thou,  Father,  art  m  Me,  and  I  in  Thee,' I 
pray  that  they  may  be  one,  '  even  as  We  are  one.' "  The 
manifestation  of  the  Father  differs  from  the  manifestation  of 
the  Christ.  The  infinite  Father  manifests  Himself  in  all 
the  universe,  in  every  thrill  of  force,  in  every  star-glint  and 
every  atom,  in  the  orbits  of  planets  and  the  fertilization  of 
mosses,  in  the  pomp  of  worlds  and  the  sound  of  many 
waters ;  but  the  manifestation  of  the  God-Man  is  in  man — 
in  the  tears  of  penitents  and  in  the  consecration  of  saints, 
in  the  enthusiasm  and  sometimes  the  clash  of  opposing 
interests,  in  the  chastisement  and  exhaustion  of  human 
pride,  in  the  agonies,  strong  crying,  and  tears  of  holy 
sorrow,  in  beatitudes  and  submission,  in  the  faith,  courage, 
and  death  of  martyrs,  in  the  visions  and  consciousness  of 
the  Divine  life. 

The  unity  between  the  Father  and  the  Son  was  a 
mutual  indwelling — "  I  in  Thee,  Thou  in  Me  :  "  a  union  of 
two  correlates  with  each  other.  All  the  self-manifestation 
of  the  Father  culminated  in  the  life  of  the  Son  of  God. 
Jesus  Christ,  "the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever," 
pours  a  flood  of  light  upon  all  the  boundless  government  of 
the  Father,  is  the  type  and  measure  of  the  pulsations  of  the 
heart  of  Eternal  God. 

Again,  to  our  limited  observation,  the  whole  method  of 
the  government  of  man  by  the  law  of  God's  natural  opera- 
tion takes  no  account  of  ignorance,  temptation,  or  fear  j  it 
chastises  and  punishes,  and  even  destroys  for  the  smallest 
infraction  of  law,  known  or  unknown.  In  the  course  of 
long  lives,  in  the  career  of  nations  and  races,  we  see  on 
which  side  the  Author  of  Nature  stands  in  man's  terrible 
collision  with  Him.     Only  in  the  Incarnate  Word  do  we 

learn  the  law  of  pardon,  regeneration,  deliverance  from  sin, 

1—6 


114  THE   IDEAL  AND   STANDARD 

and  victory  over  the  world.  The  cry  of  the  sacrificial 
Christ  is,  on  behalf  of  His  murderers,  "  Father,  forgive  them, 
for  they  know  not  what  they  do."  In  the  cross  of  Christ 
such  a  revelation  is  given  of  the  mind  of  God,  and  the 
future  life,  and  of  the  ends  of  discipline  and  death,  that  the 
dark  side  of  nature  is  illumined  by  a  new  light.  We 
become  reconciled  to  the  Absolute  and  the  Infinite,  to  the 
actual  supremacy  of  Divine  order,  on  the  one  hand  ;  and,  on 
the  other,  we  find  that  the  heart  of  Jesus  is  sustained  by 
*  all  power  that  is  in  heaven  and  eartli."  He  who  has  taken 
our  nature  into  His  own  is  in  the  Father  and  the  Father 
in  Him, 

"The  voice  that  rolls  the  stars  along 
Speaks  all  the  promises." 

Consequently  it  was  not  in  the  method  and  form  of  the  self- 
manifestation  of  the  Father  and  the  Christ,  but  in  the 
essence  of  their  mutual  love,  that  we  see  the  law  of  the 
Divine  unity. 

The  beloved  apostle  saw  in  the  Lord  Jesus  when  He 
poured  water  into  the  basin  to  wash  His  disciples'  feet,  and 
never  more  than  then,  that  He  had  come  out  from  God 
and  was  going  back  to  God,  and  that  the  Father  had  put 
all  things  into  His  hands.  The  Father  then  was  in  Him 
and  He  in  the  Father ;  the  union  was  certain  and  eternal, 
and  has  never  been  broken.  It  is  still  absolutely  perfect, 
and  is  a  union  of  essence,  of  power,  of  purpose,  and  of 
infinite  issues  to  man  and  to  the  universe. 

Into  this  union,  not  of  logical  formulae,  nor  even  of 
modes  of  manifestation,  nor  external  organization,  nor 
national  or  ecclesiastical  government,  the  Lord  prayed  that 
all  that  believed  in  Him  should  come.  The  so-called  unity 
of  Christendom  to  be  effected  by  mutual  concessions  touch- 


OF   CHRISTIAN    UNITY.  II5 

ing  the  eternal  procession  of  the  Spirit,  by  the  terms  of  some 
theological  formula,  by  the  recognition  of  this,  that,  or  the 
other  bishop  to  the  highest  rank  in  some  indivisible  society, 
even  if  achieved,  might  be  at  once  characterized  by  civil 
internecine  war  on  other  matters  arising  out  of  the  per- 
sistent individualities  of  men  or  the  idiosyncrasies  of 
nations,  and  would  be  in  itself,  even  if  successfully  per- 
formed, a  very  small  and  faint  adumbration  of  the  real 
union  of  the  Divine  life  in  the  Father  and  Son. 

The  union  of  souls  in  the  common  participation  of  the 
Divine  love  is  the  only  perfect  union  that  has  ever  been 
achieved  among  men.  This  Divine  life  of  the  Father  and 
the  Son  is  the  same  everywhere,  in  all  ages,  and  in  all 
circumstances.  It  can  transcend  and  does  overleap  the 
barriers  of  language,  of  nation,  and  colour.  The  perse- 
cutor and  his  victim,  the  lord  and  his  vassal,  the  Catholic 
and  the  Puritan,  the  stern  iconoclast  and  the  pious  pilgrim, 
whatever  may  have  been  his  shibboleth,  his  password,  or  his 
pride  of  birth  or  station,  has  felt  in  the  common  life  of  the 
Spirit  his  oneness  with  the  Father  and  the  Son.  When 
Huss  was  on  the  way  to  the  stake,  and  saw  the  enthusiastic 
votary  of  the  Catholic  creed  who  was  bringing  a  faggot  to 
add  to  the  flame  which  was  to  consume  him,  he  is  reported 
to  have  said,  "  O  sancta  simplicitas  ! "  Those  two  were  at 
that  moment  truly  one  in  the  love  that  was  infinitely  above 
them  both.  The  outcome  of  the  Divine  life  in  man,  of  the 
supernatural  and  new  relation  to  the  Father  by  the  Holy 
Spirit,  IS  a  veritable  brotherhood.  Whether  this  brotherly 
relation  is  discovered  or  not,  it  is  the  fundamental  reality. 
It  is  always  waiting  for  recognition,  and  transcends  and 
outlives  all  artificially  constructed  societies. 

The  identical  results  which  follow  the  activity  of  grace 


Il6     IDEAL   AND   STANDARD   OF   CHRISTIAN    UNITY. 

in  human  hearts  and  Hves  constitute  the  supreme  manifesta- 
tion of  the  undivided  and  indivisible  body  of  the  Christ. 
These  results  convince  the  world  that  He,  the  Lord  and 
Head  of  men,  the  everlasting  Son  of  the  Father,  has  really 
taken  hold  of  and  manifested  Himself  in  the  flesh.  These 
glorious  Gesta  Chrisil,  and  these  alone,  harmoniously  sing 
the  chorus  of  thanksgiving  to  Him  that  sitteth  on  the  throne, 
and  to  the  Lamb,  for  ever  and  ever. 


THE    POWERS   OF    HOLY   LOVE. 


THE    POWERS    OF    HOLY 
LOVE. 

*'The  greatest  of  these  is  love." — i  Cor.  xiii.  13. 

Numerous  attempts  have  been  made  to  prove  that,  in  sonic 
of  its  aspects,  ^^  love''  is  greater  than  either  "faith"  or 
"  hope."  Some,  by  narrowing  the  content  of  faith  to  its 
lowest  connotation,  by  reducing  it  to  intellectual  assent,  by 
depriving  it  of  its  closely  associated  graces,  and  by  ridding 
it  of  all  part  in  its  own  glorious  issues,  have  found  it  an 
easy  task  to  say  that  love  is  greater  than  faith.  Ends  are 
greater  than  means  to  the  end.  The  superstructure  of  a 
building  is  nobler  than  the  foundation.  The  fruit  is  more 
than  the  seed,  and  so  love  is  obviously  greater  than  faith,  as 
being  the  end,  the  fruit,  the  outcome  and  upshot  of  a  genuine 
faith.  Now,  faith  is  a  right  royal  gift  of  God.  It  is  the 
capacity  for  blessedness,  it  is  the  principle  of  union  with 
unseen  realities,  it  is  the  hand  which  takes  hold  of  the 
strength  of  Almighty  God.  Faith  gives  validity  to  promise, 
and  is  the  only  rational  treatment  that  man  can  offer  to 
truth.  What  can  we  do  with  a  truth  of  any  kind  except 
beUeve  in  it?  It  is  most  certain  that  by  faith  we  can 
remove  mountains  of  difficulty,  we  may  overcome  the  world, 
we  may  cast  out  the  devil,  and  become  vividly  conscious 


120  THE   POWERS   OF   HOLY   LOVE. 

of  the  things  that  are  unseen  and  eternal.  "Without  faith 
it  is  impossible  to  please  God,"  and  "  to  faith  all  things  are 
possible,"  and  nothing  impossible.  Yet  in  this  mighty 
dithyramb  of  holy  love,  we  are  distinctly  told  that  "  now 
abideth  faith,  hope,  and  love,  but  the  greatest  of  these  is 
love." 

Other  writers,  jealous  for  the  consistency,  if  not  the 
orthodoxy,  of  the  apostle,  have  justified  this  somewhat 
paradoxical  statement  by  referring  to  the  perpetuity  of 
love,  as  compared  with'  the  variableness  of  faith,  and  with 
the  temporary  aspects  and  changing  qualities  of  hope. 
They  have  quoted  St.  Paul,  when  he  contrasts  the  per- 
sistence of  love  with  the  fleeting  phases  of  prophecy,  of 
great  gifts,  and  of  human  knowledge;  and,  contrary  to  his 
own  statement,  have  argued  that  faith  will  no  longer  be 
needed  when  knowledge  and  vision  have  taken  its  place ; 
that  hope  will  be  discarded  as  useless  when  we,  who  now 
see  in  a  glass  darkly,  turn  round  to  behold  God  face  to 
face.  ''What  a  man  seeth  why  doth  he  yet  hope  for?" 
Therefore,  they  argue,  love,  which  is  only  enhanced  by 
vision,  must  be  greater  than  faith  or  hope. 

I  cannot  think  that  this  is  the  explanation  of  St.  Paul's 
burning  words,  "The  greatest  of  these  is  love."  For  if  we 
understand  anything  about  the  nature  of  "  faith  "  or  "  hope," 
we  cannot  conceive  that  they  will  ever  cease  to  be  practical 
and  mighty  energies  in  our  spirit-life.  Higher  faculties 
than  we  now  possess  will  but  reveal  fresh  marvels,  mysteries, 
difiiculties,  and  problems  to  the  faculty  of  faith.  Hope,  too, 
will  never  be  exhausted.  Every  fruition  of  previously 
anticipated  privilege  will  wing  the  flight  of  fresh  expectation 
and  desire.  The  compass  and  depth  of  the  Divine  fulness 
are  immeasurable  and  infinite.      Besides,  the  apostle  dis- 


THE   POWERS   OF   HOLY   LOVE.  121 

tinctly  declares,  ''Now  abideth  faith,  hope,  love" — the  first 
and  second,  as  well  as  the  crowning  grace, — "  these  three 
{abide),  but  the  greatest  of  these  is  love." 

We  may,  however,  take  heart  for  the  solution  of  this 
paradox,  by  remembering  that  "  love  "  is  of  the  very  nature 
of  God  Himself,  that  love  is  His  essence,  that  God  is  love, 
and  since  only  by  the  extravagance  and  crudity  of  anthro- 
pomorphism could  we  attribute  *' faith"  or  "hope"  to  God, 
therefore  it  is  that  love  is  greater  than  faith,  and  that  love  is 
greater  than  hope.  Since  faith  and  hope  imply  imperfection 
of  power  and  state,  incompleteness  of  being,  they  cannot  be 
equated  with  the  essential  glory  and  greatness  of  the  Divine 
essence.  Love  is  of  God,  and  it  is  the  peculiarity  of  this 
manifestation  of  tlie  eternal  glory,  that  it  demands  response 
of  the  same  kind.  We  love  because  He  first  loved.  In 
the  response  of  love  to  love,  there  is  the  consciousness  of 
our  heavenly  birth :  we  discover  the  Fatherhood ;  there 
dawns  upon  us  the  sublime  and  marvellous  assurance  that 
we,  too,  have  come  from  Him,  and  are  returning  to  Him ; 
that  He  is  ours,  and  we  are  His. 

There  are  some  who  solve  the  problem  of  the  text  by 
comparing  faith  irT  God  with  the  love  of  man,  to  the  fearful 
disparagement  of  the  former.  But  surely  there  is  no  true 
love  of  man  which  does  not  spring  from  love  of  God,  and 
there  is  no  love  of  God  which  is  not  rooted  in  faith ;  so 
that  such  hurtful  comparison  or  antithesis  between  "  faith  " 
and  "love"  vanishes  into  thin  air.  The  comparison  on 
which  the  depreciatory  judgment  on  faith  turns  is  often 
enhanced  by  taking  faith  as  a  mere  verbal  assent  to  orthodox 
propositions,  thus  reducing  it  to  its  lowest  terms,  and 
taking  love  in  the  amplitude  of  its  response  to  God  Himself 
and  then  towards  all  the  objects  of  the  Divine  love.     This 


122  THE   POWERS   OF   HOLY   LOVE. 

leads  me  to  ask  your  examination  of  some  of  the  powers 
or  functions  of  holy  love.  Love  does  wonders  for  faith  and 
hope,  and  also  for  knowledge  and  obedience,  transforming 
the  lower  forms  of  these  graces  into  the  higher  and  nobler 
forms,  in  an  ever-augmenting  energy.  The  deepest,  truest 
love  is  never  satisfied  with  less  than  love  itself  in  return, 
and  a  love  which  differs  not  in  kind,  though  it  may  in 
degree.  Like  the  action  of  the  physical  heart,  it  is  a 
perpetual  giving  and  receiving,  a  reception  with  no  other 
purpose  than  to  give,  a  giving  with  an  untiring  confidence 
of  a  continuous  reception.  Love  is  the  blending  of  two 
natures  into  one  personality.  The  link  between  them  is  so 
perfect,  that  each  becomes  one  with  the  other. 

The  consequence  of  these  well-known  facts  is  such  that, 
when  we  speak  of  "  holy  love,"  or  "  the  love  of  God,"  we 
are  conscious  of  what  may  be  called  a  glorious  ambiguity. 
No  logical  or  grammatical  rule  can  decide  apart  from  con- 
text, whether  we  mean  by  "  love  of  God  "  His  love  to  us  or 
our  love  to  Him,  or  mean  by  the  "  love  of  Christ "  His  love 
to  us  or  ours  to  Him.  In  the  language  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, the  love  of  God  is  a  divine  state,  into  which  His 
children  are  brought  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  in  which  there 
is  the  fullest,  sweetest  interchange  of  holy  affection,  where 
the  strongest  passion  is  enlisted  on  the  side  of  the  highest 
principle,  and  in  which  the  lovers  of  God  love  all  that  He 
loves  with  a  Divine  self-forgetfulness. 

It  is  more  easy  to  write  and  speculate  about  "  the  love 
of  God,"  and  the  transformation  it  can  effect  in  us  and  in 
the  world,  than  it  is  to  cherish  these  sublime  affections. 
God  is  so  august,  so  immeasurably  great,  so  infinitely  good 
and  holy,  so  far  above  the  influences  which  disturb  our 
vision  and  distort  our  conceptions,  that  we  often  tremble  at 


THE   POWERS   OF   HOLY   LOVE.  1 23 

our  audacity  in  speaking  of  the  love  that  prevails  between 
us.     Some  exposition,  however,  of  the  nature  and  power  of 
love  may  not  be  useless.     The  apparent  revolution  of  a 
planet  round  its  primary  is  really  explained  to  our  thought 
by  the  common  revolution   of  both  planet  and  primary 
around  their  common  centre  of  gravity.     The  earth  and  the 
sun  alike  revolve  around  a  point  central  to  the  two.     That 
point  is  far  within  the  body  of  the  sun.     So  of  every  other 
body  in  the  vast  system  of  which  the  sun  is  the  centre. 
The  sun  as  surely  revolves  round  the  smallest  asteroid  as 
round  the  vast  system  of  Saturn,  and  so  it  holds  all  these 
common  centres  within  the  mighty  embrace   of  its   own 
being.     We  obtain  hence  some  notion,  some  faint  illustra- 
tion of  the  relation  sustained  towards  Himself  by  every  soul 
that  is  born  of  God.     There  is  a  mutual  gravitation,  and  a 
genuine   centre   of   revolution   for   God    and    every   soul 
smitten   by   the   power   of  holy   love.      There   is  twofold 
attraction,   a  twofold  and  mutual  self-abandonment  of  the 
one  to  the  other.     God  is  as  surely  and  as  fully  drawn  to 
the  soul  as  the  soul  is  to  Him.     "  Love  "  in  this  large  sense 
cannot  be  limited  to  one  or  the  other  of  the  subjects  of  this 
twofold  synthesis.     God  loves  man,  man  loves  God.     God 
is  attracted  to  man,  man  draws  nigh  to  God.     Each  loses 
itself  in  the  other.     This  state  of  soul  is  blessed  beyond 
words.     Those  who  have  become  fully  subject  to  it  can 
hardly  be  conscious  of  it,  for  it  is  deeper  than  conscious- 
ness.    It  is  heaven  itself,  where  meditation  upon  personal 
blessedness  is  left  far  behind  and  below,  and  the  realization 
of  the  Eternal  Life  takes  its  place. 

We  are  a  long  way,  here  and  now,  from  this  perfect 
accord ;  for  "  in  us,  that  is  in  our  flesh,  there  dwelleth  no 
good  thing."     In  the  regenerate  there  is  still  the  centrifugal 


124  THE   POWERS  OF   HOLY   LOVE. 

passion,  which  is  ever  aiming  at  severance  from  the  highest 
love,  and  which  would  rush  into  the  ghastly  darkness  of  a 
perfect  independence  of  the  Divine  love. 

Only  once  has  *'  the  Word  become  flesh,"  and  humanity 
been  utterly  interpenetrated  with  the  Divine  light,  and  the 
issue  of  this  sublime  conjunction  was  that  even  the  flesh 
of  Christ  put  on  immortality,  was  received  up  into  glory, 
and  is  set  down  on  the  right  hand  of  the  eternal  Majesty. 
Still  it  is  possible  for  holy  love  to  make  continuous 
advance  to  the  fulness  of  communion  with  God.  "  We 
have  received  of  His  fulness,  and  grace  over  against  grace," 
in  every  augmenting  pulse  of  holy  affection  in  all  the  sacred 
interchanges  of  holy  love. 

This  becomes  manifest  when  we  consider  the  several 
relations  which  love  sustains  to  obedience,  knowledge, 
FAITH,  and  HOPE.  There  are  several  wide  and  suggestive 
utterances  of  Holy  Scripture  which  appear  contradictory 
until  we  have  discovered  this  fundamental  law  of  holy 
love.  The  most  obvious  contradiction  in  form  is  be- 
tween certain  statements  of  our  Lord.  Thus  He  says, 
on  the  one  hand,  "  If  ye  love  Me,  keep  My  command- 
ments." In  this  exhortation,  love  to  Christ  is  the  mighty 
energy  that  produces  holy  obedience.  The  loving  eye  is 
quick  to  discern  the  wdll,  the  wish  of  the  beloved.  The 
heart  which  truly  loves  cannot  break  one  of  the  least  of 
these  commandments.  Even  if  the  commandment  seem 
arbitrary,  it  is  enough  that  He  who  is  supremely  loved  has 
said,  "  This  do  in  remembrance  of  Me."  That  is  enough. 
Such  motive  is  sufficient.  It  is  simple,  clear,  and  explicit. 
The  obedience  wiiich  is  the  witness,  the  pledge,  the  conse- 
quence of  love,  and  is  neither  formal  nor  perfunctory,  but 
the  outcome  of  a  self-sacrificing  affection,  is  alone  well. 


THE    POWERS   OF   HOLY   LOVE.  12  5 

pleasing.  This  idea  pervades  the  language  aUke  of  prophets 
and  apostles.  Isaiah  and  St.  Paul  combine  to  repudiate 
an  obedience  which  springs  from  any  lower  motive.  Here 
we  find  a  link  which  unites  the  Old  Testament  with  the 
New.  Two  great  principles  emerge  as  we  contemplate  it. 
One  is  :  (i)  We  must  7iot  dignify  by  the  name  of  love  that 
which  is  unwilling  or  unable  to  yield  obedience  to  the 
beloved,  or  which  is  not  strong  enough  to  overcome  all  our 
carnal  reluctance  to  do  that  which  God  commands.  (2)  We 
dare  not  build  anything  upon  an  obedience  which  is  not 
the  child  and  the  consequence  of  a  genuine  love.  But  is 
this  all  ?  Certainly  not.  Our  Lord  says  elsewhere,  "  He 
that  hath  My  commandm.ents  and  keepeth  them,  he  it  is 
that  loveth  Me  :  and  he  that  loveth  Me  shall  be  loved  of 
My  Father,  and  I  will  love  him  ; "  and  again,  "  If  ye  keep 
My  commandments,  ye  shall  abide  in  My  love." 

At  first  sight  it  would  seem  that  ''obedience"  is  re- 
garded in  these  words  as  the  parent  of  love,  not  only  the 
pledge,  but  the  occasion  of  mutual  love,  and  of  all  the 
Divine  interchanges  of  sacred  aff'ection ;  in  other  words,  iJiat 
obedience  and  love  had  changed  places  I  It  might  seem  from 
this  exhortation  that  an  authoritative  command  was  jarring 
with  that  gracious  self-abandonment  to  which  love  calls. 
But  is  not  the  solution  of  the  apparent  discord  found  in  the 
following  underlying  thought  ?  There  is  verily  a  love  which 
prompts  to  obedience,  but  this  obedience,  again,  is  the 
stimulus  and  food,  the  provocative  and  the  ground  of  a 
still  higher  love,  leading  on  to  a  sublimer  response  of 
mutual  affection.  We  begin  by  "loving  little;"  but  if  the 
little  love  is  strong  enough  to  express  itself  by  keeping  the 
commandments  of  love,  the  love  grows  by  what  expresses  it  : 
and  the  higher  love  leads  to  a  more  complete  obedience,  and 


126  THE   POWERS   OF   HOLY   LOVE. 

SO  Oil  for  ever.  The  burning  seraph  loves,  because  he  goes 
and  returns  (on  the  Divine  behests),  ''as  it  were  a  flash  of 
lightning."  Obedience  is  the  libration  of  the  wings  of 
love.  Love  flames  into  seraphic  fire  when  fed  with  the  oil 
of  obedience. 

The  powers  of  love  reveal  themselves  in  like  manner  in 
their  relation  to  knoivledge.  Take  the  text,  ''  This  is  life 
eternal,  that  they  might  know  Thee  the  only  veritable  God, 
and  Jesus  Christ  whom  Thou  hast  sent."  The  knowledge 
is  life  eternal.  Not  to  know  God  is  to  abide  in  death  and 
darkness.  We  read  elsewhere  that  life  itself  is  the  light  of 
men.  "  They  that  know  Thy  name  will  put  their  trust  in 
Thee,"  and  "  Thou  wilt  keep  him  in  perfect  peace  whose 
mind  is  stayed  on  Thee,  because  he  trusteth  in  Thee." 
All  this  is  re-echoed  from  every  part  of  Divine  Revelation. 
There  is  a  knowledge,  a  full  assurance,  a  divine  intuition  of 
the  living  God,  which  is  life  eternal.  The  beatific  vision  is 
but  the  perfection  of  the  knowledge  of  God.  It  is  the 
complete  satisfaction  of  our  whole  spiritual  nature  :  we  who 
pant  and  yearn  after  reality,  after  eternal  truth,  can  only 
find  it  in  the  knowledge  of  God. 

Yet  there  are  many  things  said  of  knowledge^  per  se, 
which  bafile  us.  Elsewhere  we  read  that  ^'•knowledge 
puffeth  up."  St.  Paul  tells  us  in  this  chapter  that  we  may 
have  the  gifts  of  knowledge,  may  understand  all  mysteries, 
may  speak  with  the  tongues  of  men  and  angels,  may 
prophesy  with  fine  intuition  of  the  truth,  and  yet  be  mere 
clanging  cymbals,  or  sounding  brass.  In  order  to  meet 
this  apparent  contradiction,  we  may  remember  that  without 
some  knowledge,  without  mental  realization  of  truth,  we 
can  put  truth  to  no  use.     Knowledge,  acquaintance  with 


THE   POWERS  OF   HOLY   LOVE.  1 27 

the  idea  of  God,  must,  by  the  nature  of  the  case,  precede 
credence  and  love. 

K7iowIedge  is  a  necessary  preliminary  to  faith  and  its 
attendant  virtues.  How  can  we  believe  that  which  is  not 
made  known  to  us?  At  times,  moreover,  knowledge  in  its 
deepest  sense  and  most  life-giving  essence  is  shown  to  be 
dependent  on  putting  into  practice,  on  doing  that  which  we 
know  to  be  right,  by  not  only  ''  hearing,"  but  ''  doing  "  the 
sayings  of  Christ.  At  other  times  we  are  told  that  obedience, 
a  willingness  to  do  the  will  of  God,  will  open  the  eyes  of  the 
understanding  to  appreciate,  to  kno7ci  the  doctrine,  wliether 
it  be  of  God.  At  other  times  "  knowledge "  is  boldly 
contrasted  with  love.  "  Knowledge  puffeth  up,"  "  Love 
buildeth  up ; "  while  knowledge  without  love  is  nothing 
worth.  So  that  knowledge  is  at  one  time  represented  as  an 
essential  preliminary  to  both  faith  and  obedience ;  and, 
again,  at  other  times,  knowledge  is  represented  as  even 
dependent  upon  and  actually  conditionated  by  a  heartfelt 
obedience. 

What  we  have  already  seen  to  be  the  value  and  place  of 
holy  obedience  may  help  us  to  resolve  this  seeming  contra- 
diction ;  but  we  have  more  certain  and  satisfying  light  upon 
this  mystery  in  the  profound  utterance  of  St.  John:  "He 
that  loveth  not,  knoweth  not  God."  This  is  true  of  other 
objects,  both  of  love  and  knowledge,  as  certainly  as  it  is 
true  of  the  love  and  knowledge  of  the  Lord  God.  We  do 
not  know  any  thing,  any  person,  any  science,  until  we  love 
it.  The  "  dry  light "  needed  for  scientific  pursuit  is  the  eye 
unbleared  by  prejudice,  unfilled  with  tears  of  foolish  and 
inappropriate  emotion,  not  an  eye  which  does  not  flash  with 
love.  It  is  sometimes  said  that  "  Love  is  blind."  Cupid 
has  been  imaged  with  shaded  eyes.     No  greater  mistake 


128  THE   POWERS   OF   HOLY    LOVE. 

can  be  made.  Love  has  microscopic  eyes  to  see  both  the 
faults  and  excellences  of  the  beloved  object.  What  a  world 
this  would  be  if  mothers  could  see  in  all  children  the  divine 
attractions  and  worth  which  they  do  see  in  their  firstborn ; 
and  if  lovers  could  see  in  all  persons  the  wonderful  lovable- 
ness  they  easily  discern  in  one  another !  It  is  only  the 
LOVER  of  truths,  of  persons,  of  countries,  of  great  causes 
and  principles,  who  really  and  veritably  knows  them.  He 
that  loveth  not  his  country,  does  not  know  it.  He  that 
loveth  not  Nature,  does  not  know  it.  He  that  is  not  ready 
to  sacrifice  his  own  pleasure  to  secure  the  triumph  of  a 
great  principle,  does  not  know  that  principle.  I  do  not 
mean  that  he  shows  himself  to  be  ignorant  of  it,  seeing  that, 
if  he  knew  it  better,  he  would  love  it  more ;  but  that  the 
love,  the  going  out  of  self  towards  an  object,  is  itself  reve- 
latory of  the  object.  Consequently,  and  a  fortiori^  he  thai 
loveth  not  God,  knoiveth  not  God.  Love  is  actually  the 
condition  of  the  highest  knowledge.  If  this  be  a  law  of 
knowledge,  then  we  see  at  once  how  easy  it  is  to  explain 
the  relations  of  knowledge  and  life,  and  of  knowledge  and 
obedience,  which  puzzled  us  just  now. 

The  difficulty  is  resolved  thus  : — There  is  a  kind  of 
knowledge  which  is  a  necessary  antecedent  to  any  faith, 
to  any  obedience,  to  any  love;  and  yet  such  knowledge 
may  remain  barren  and  useless  for  the  higher  life.  We 
may,  as  many  do,  know,  and  fall  short  of  believing ;  know, 
and  not  obey ;  know,  and  refuse  to  love.  Such  knowledge 
may  puff  up  its  possessor  and  vaunt  itself.  It  leads 
nowhither,  it  is  neither  life  nor  peace.  But  there  is 
another  knowledge,  born  of  simple  obedience  and  holy  love, 
and  this  knowledge  is  "life  eternal."  So  we  gather  from 
this  meditation  another  of  the  powers  of  "  holy  love."     It 


THE   rOWERS   OF   HOLY   LOVE.  1 29 

transforms  the  incipient  knowledge,  the  verbal  assent  to 
propositions,  into  the  invincible  assent  of  full  assurance. 
The  knowledge  of  the  only  true  God  and  Jesus  Christ 
which  is  born  of  holy  love,  quickened  and  stimulated  by  the 
microscopic  eye  of  strong,  reverent  affection,  is  nothing 
short  of  the  beatific  vision ;  it  is,  as  our  Lord  said,  life 
eternal. 

In  close  relation,  and  by  similarity  of  argument,  we  see 
that  other  powers  of  holy  love  give  great  intensity  to  faith 
and  hope. 

There  are  degrees  oi faith,  varying  from  simple  credence, 
admission  of  the  truth  of  certain  facts  without  passion  or 
any  corresponding  conduct,  on  to  a  certainty  which  tends 
to  high  and  appropriate  emotions,  to  the  full  assurance 
which  appeals  to  and  absorbs  the  whole  nature.  Faith 
varies  from  the  admission  of  a  moderate  probability  to  the 
vision  and  revelation  of  the  Lord.  The  degrees  of  fiith 
differ,  as  a  solitary  grain  of  mustard-seed  differs  from  the  vast 
forest-tree  trembling  at  every  point  with  the  wealth  and 
glory  of  its  developed  life.  What  is  the  energy  by  which 
faith  passes  from  stage  to  stage  ?  Faith  is  energetic  through 
love.  Divinely  implanted  love,  spiritually  inspired  self- 
surrender  increases  every  faculty  of  knowledge,  deepens 
every  impression  made  by  truth,  opens  the  eye  which  in- 
difference or  passion  had  blinded,  purifies  the  gaze  which 
prejudice  or  evil  bias  had  corrupted  and  obscured,  and  so 
makes  the  trembling  faith  which  can  only  cry,  *'  I  believe, 
help  my  unbelief,"  grow,  burn,  gleam  with  holy  enthusiasm, 
until  it  cries,  "I  know  whom  I  have  believed,  and  I  am 
persuaded." 

There  is  faith  which  leads  to  love  and  is  manifested  in 

K— 6 


I30  THE   POWERS   OF   HOLY   LOVE. 

love,  but  there  is  the  higher  faith  which  is  born  of  a  perfect 
trust,  and  which  again  in  its  turn  blazes  into  the  flame  of 
that  holy  confiding  love  which  cries,  "  I  am  persuaded  that 
neither  death,  nor  life,  nor  things  present,  nor  things  to 
come,  nor  principalities,  nor  powers,  nor  height,  nor  depth, 
nor  any  other  creature,  shall  be  able  to  separate  me  from 
the  love  of  God  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  my  Lord." 

In  like  manner  there  are  degrees  of  ^^  hope."  Who  has 
not  experienced  what  he  and  others  call  Christian  hope, 
but  which  on  close  analysis  is  found  to  be  little  better 
than  a  faint  and  feeble  desire  after  better  things,  and  a 
desponding  cry  of  the  soul  for  what  is  just  a  grade  better 
than  blank  despair?  This  is  not  the  hope  that  saves. 
Contrast  it  with  the  full  evidence  of  things  hoped  for,  which 
is  imparted  by  living  faith.  Let  desire  be  large,  and 
expectation  strong ;  let  hope  embrace  all  Divine  promises, 
and  it  becomes  a  vast  capacity  for  blessedness,  and  often 
bursts  out  in  solitary  places  and  on  dark  nights  into  songs 
of  rejoicing.  Then  is  revealed  what  the  apostles  call 
"  patience,"  born  of  quiet  waiting,  with  a  smile  upon  its  face, 
reflecting  all  the  lustre  of  the  Divme  manifestation.  Tribula- 
tion and  sorrow  are  but  the  crucible  in  which  this  precious 
quality  and  energy  of  soul  is  refined.  "  This  hope  maketh 
not  ashamed,"  and  can  never  be  disappointed,  because  it  is 
a  veritable  prelibation  of  its  own  object — it  is  the  earnest 
and  foretaste  of  the  purchased  possession.  We  ask  once 
more,  what  leads  the  soul  from  hope  to  hope,  from  the 
faint  uplifting  of  the  wearied  weeping  eye  to  the  "  hope  full 
of  immortality  "  ?  St.  Paul  gives  us  the  answer:  "Because 
the  love  of  God  is  shed  abroad  in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  given  to  us." 

In  this  answer,  moreover,  the  apostle  throws  a  flood  of 


THE   POWERS   OF   HOLY   LOVE.  131 

light  upon  what  he  meant  by  ''the  love  of  God,"  and 
reminds  us  that  he  identified  it,  here  and  elsewhere,  with 
the  whole  of  that  supernatural  and  new  life  which  is 
produced  in  the  spirit  of  man  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God. 
"  Regeneration,"  "  a  new  creature,"  "consecration,"  "  sancti- 
fication,"  "  resurrection  and  ascension  with  Christ "  are 
terms  which  in  part  adumbrate  the  full  effect  of  the  baptism 
with  the  Holy  Ghost,  or  the  indwxlhng  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
of  God  in  the  life  of  man.  Consequently,  what  in  one 
place  St.  Paul  calls  the  '•'  fruits  of  the  Spirit,"  elsewhere  he 
verbally  enumerates  as  the  powers  of  Holy  Love.  This 
apparent  inconsistency  is  resolved  by  perceiving  the  glorious 
fact  that  the  Holy  Spirit  brings  the  soul  into  genuine, 
veritable  relations  of  love  to  God,  and  into  the  spiritual 
consciousness  of  the  love  of  God.  Thus  it  is  that  incipient 
knowledge,  quickened  by  love,  becomes  the  knowledge 
born  of  love,  which  is  life  eternal ;  that  faith  which  trembles 
on  the  verge  of  extinction  becomes  a  faith  active  through 
love  to  remove  mountains ;  that  hope  becomes  the  anchor 
of  the  soul,  sure  and  steadfast ;  and  that  obedience  becomes 
an  absolute  submission,  a  self-abandonment,  and  a  beatific 
vision. 

Just  as  the  relations  of  the  soul  with  God  are  deepened 
and  enriched  by  holy  love,  thus  fully  justifying  the  high 
eulogiums  of  the  apostle,  so  all  our  relations  with  our 
fellow-men  are  heightened  and  sanctified  by  the  love  which, 
at  the  cross  of  Christ,  we  have  learned  to  cherish  towards 
them. 

We  must  know  something  of  men  before  we  love  them, 
but  when  the  souls  of  men  become  precious  to  us  in  the 
light  of  heavenly  love,  then  we  begin  to  know  them  and 
their  worth,  to  estimate  them  at  the  price  set  upon  them  by 


132  THE   POWERS   OF    HOLY   LOVE. 

their  Redeemer  ;  finally,  as  the  outcome  of  such  knowledge, 
the  love  breaks  forth  afresh  and  never  faileth.  In  like 
manner,  our  hope  for  the  future  of  our  race  will,  on  the  basis 
of  God's  love,  lead  to  zealous  and  stimulating  effort  for  the 
amelioration  of  the  race  ;  and  such  a  love  reveals  the  awful 
and  glorious  facts  of  the  redemption  of  the  soul  and  of  the 
race.  When  love  has  educated  our  hope  it  becomes  in- 
vincible, it  towers  over  the  harsh  and  cold  judgments  of 
the  world,  it  anticipates  the  ultimate  victory. 

The  powers  of  this  holy  love  turn  faith  into  vision,  hope 
into  rapture,  effort  into  triumph,  and  earth  into  heaven. 


FAITH    THE    MEASURE    OF 
BLESSING. 


4 


Preached  on  May  28,  1 891,  in  the  Chesliimt  College  Chapel^  at  the 
ordination  of  two  stiidoits  appointed  to  viissionary  service,  the  one 
in  Mongolia,  the  other  in  Madagascar, 


i 


FAITH   THE    MEASURE    OF 
BLESSING. 

"Great  is  thy  faith  :  be  it  done  unto  thee  even  as  thou  wilt," — St. 
Matt.  xv.  28. 

While  faith  occupies  a  most  conspicuous  place  in  the  New 
Testament,  as  the  instrument  by  which  men  become  united 
to  God,  and  are  prepared  and  quahfied  to  receive  the  light 
and  peace  of  the  gospel,  we  must  be  upon  our  guard  against 
drawing  too  much  conclusion  from  the  analogical  lessons  of 
our  Lord's  miracles.  The  method  of  Divine  mercy  varies  in 
each  case.  When  Christ  called  Matthew  from  the  receipt 
of  custom,  the  imperative  summons  was  immediately 
obeyed.  When  our  Lord,  in  the  royalty  of  His  love,  spake 
to  the  dull,  cold  ear  of  death,  there  is  no  hint  that  the 
child  of  the  centurion,  or  that  the  widow's  son,  or  that  the 
spirit  of  Lazarus  was  stirred  into  faith  by  the  person  or 
claims  of  Jesus.  In  these  and  other  instances,  Christ 
declared  Himself  independent  of  any  human  condition 
whatever  on  the  part  of  the  recipient,  yet,  in  a  multitude  of 
other  cases,  He  did  regard  faith,  moral  surrender  to  His 
will,  profound  recognition  of  His  claims  as  the  channel  of 
His  noblest  gifts,  and  as  the  measure  of  the  kind  and  degree 


136  FAITH   THE   MEASURE  OF   BLESSING. 

of  blessing  which  He  was  able  to  impart.  "  Believe  ye  that 
I  am  able  to  do  this  ?  "  is  the  question  he  put  to  the  blind 
men  of  Bethsaida.  *'  If  thou  canst  do  anything,"  is  the 
language  of  the  father  of  the  epileptic  child.  In  our  Lord's 
reply,  He  seemed  to  reproach  the  half-faith  which  made 
so  feeble  a  draft  upon  the  almightiness  of  God,  and  cried, 
"  If  thou  canst  believe,  ...  all  things  are  possible."  He 
could  not  do  many  mighty  works,  because  of  the  unbelief 
of  His  own  people. 

Here  the  Lord  makes  the  faith  of  a  heathen  woman 
the  measure  of  the  blessing  she  might  draw  forth  from  His 
Divine  power.  Faith  in  the  nature  and  promises  of  God's 
greatest  self-manifestation  appears  the  normal  method  for 
the  bestowment  of  Divine  blessing.  Faith  on  sufficient 
evidence,  moral  acquiescence  in  tlie  character  and  claims  of 
the  living  Christ,  is  the  prime  condition  of  life  itself.  Faith 
is  the  capacity  for  blessedness  and  the  condition  of  power. 
It  is  the  eye  by  which  we  see  supernal  beauty,  the  hand 
with  which  we  grasp  exhaustless  treasure,  the  ear  into  Avhich 
falls  the  melody  and  harmony  of  truth,  the  faculty  for  tasting 
the  sweetness  of  the  Divine  mercy,  of  acquiescing  in  the 
mastery  and  supremacy  of  the  Divine  will,  and  the  power 
by  which  we  take  hold  of  God  and  abandon  self  to  the  ends 
of  the  kingdom  of  God. 

Now,  I  have  chosen  the  words  of  my  text,  as  graciously 
uttered  by  the  Lord  Himself  to  you  and  other  young  servants 
of  Christ  on  the  eve  of  departure  to  the  work  of  foreign 
missions.  There  are  many  analogies  between  your  yearn- 
ings and  passionate  pleading  and  those  of  the  Syrophe- 
nician  woman.  The  narratives  contained  in  the  Gospels  of 
Matthew  and  Mark  describe  the  approach  of  the  blessed 
Lord  to  the  confines  of  the  heathen  world.     He  seems  to 


FAITH  THE  MEASURE  OF   BLESSING.  1 37 

have  gone  into  the  coasts  of  Tyre  and  Sidon  to  prove  to 
His  disciples  that  His  gospel  broke  through  the  narrow 
boundaries  within  which  both  Pharisees  and  Sadducees 
would  confine  any  Messianic  privileges.  He  had  no  sooner 
come  into  the  borders  of  heathendom,  than  some  presented 
themselves  who  had  apparently  a  vague  knowledge  of  His 
claims  and  powers,  and  who  began  to  draw  at  once  upon  His 
resources.  A  mother's  heart  pleaded  wildly,  importunately 
for  her  child  that  was  grievously  vexed  with  a  devil.  The 
disciples  were  impatient.  "  Send  her  away,"  said  they, 
"  for  she  crieth  after  us."  For  a  moment,  Christ  seemed 
as  if  He  were  deaf  to  her  importunity,  and  were  yielding 
to  the  Pharisaic  prejudices  of  His  own  disciples:  *'He 
^  answered  never  a  word."  Again  came  the  moan,  "  O 
Lord,  Thou  Son  of  David,  have  mercy."  Then,  as  though 
He  would  express  and  so  condemn  the  Judaic  withholding 
of  grace  from  heathendom,  and  as  if  He  would  expose  the 
pride  which  was  ready  to  burst  from  the  lips  of  His 
disciples,  He  said,  ''  I  was  not  sent  but  unto  the  lost  sheep 
of  the  house  of  Israel."  Thus  He  put  the  mother's  heart 
to  a  still  severer  strain,  and  she  fell  at  His  feet  and 
worshipped  Him,  saying,  "  Lord,  help  me."  Then  once 
again  reiterating  in  stronger  language  the  universal  feeling 
of  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees,  He  said,  '•'  It  is  not  meet 
to  take  the  children's  bread  and  cast  it  to  the  dogs."  One's 
heart  quails  to  hear  from  the  lips  of  the  Saviour  these 
terrible  repulses  of  the  heathen  woman's  plea.  Her  perti- 
nacity and  enthusiasm  see  through  the  apparent  harshness 
of  His  words  ;  she  must  have  perceived  some  deeper  reason 
for  them,  and  some  meaning  of  His  apparently  haughty- 
rejoinder,  as  she  crouched  before  Him,  and  cried  again, 
"  True,    Lord,    let   the   children   have   their    bread ;    but 


138  FAITH   THE   MEASURE   OF   BLESSING. 

the  little  dogs  eat  of  the  crumbs  which  fall  from  the 
master's  table."  The  loving  heart  of  Jesus  was  awaiting 
that  final  intercession.  He  drew  it  from  her  broken  spirit, 
and  the  grand,  abundant,  lavish  gift  was  dispensed  with 
royal  largess,  *'  Great  is  thy  faith  :  be  it  done  unto  thee 
even  as  thou  wilt." 

Much  depends  upon  the  voice  which  utters  such 
approval  and  promise,  whether  it  be  that  of  the  world,  or 
the  Church,  or  of  the  Lord  Himself;  but  let  us  think  for 
a  moment  of  the  analogies  between  you  and  this  impor- 
tunate intercessor.  Do  you  not  take  upon  your  heart  and 
upon  your  lips  the  necessitous  cry  of  the  world  that  is 
sitting  in  darkness  and  in  the  shadow  of  death  ?  Notwith- 
standing all  the  wondrous  leading  of  Providence,  all  the 
light  that  lighteneth  every  man,  and  all  the  striving  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  though  there  is  much  that  is  good  and 
true  in  some  of  the  systems  of  heathen  thought,  do  you  not 
feel  that  the  object  of  your  self-annihilating  love,  that  this 
heathen  world,  is  ''  grievously  vexed  with  the  devil "  ?  Have 
you  not  identified  yourself  with  the  suffering  and  ignorance, 
the  madness  of  a  lost  soul,  so  as  to  plead  concerning  it, 
"  Have  mercy  upon  me  "  ?  Do  not  the  scorn  and  prejudice, 
the  spirit  of  aristocratic  monopoly  falling  from  the  lips  of 
modern  Pharisee  and  Sadducee,  verily  burn  into  your  soul 
when  they  seem  to  your  troubled  heart  to  be  sanctioned 
by  the  coldness  of  the  Church  and  the  silence  of  the  Lord  ? 
Do  not  the  methods  which  He  uses  to  test  your  courage 
and  to  rebuke  His  half-hearted  disciples  pierce  you  to  the 
quick  ?  And  when  the  voice  comes  which  apparently 
implies  that  the  Bread  of  Life,  the  gospel  of  Divine  love, 
is  only  meant  for  EngUsh  folk,  and  that  Fetichism  is  good 
enough  for  New  Guinea,  and  Confucius   all-sufticient  for 


FAITH   THE   MEASURE   OF   BLESSING.  1 39 

China,— that  it  is  not  meet  to  take  the  children's  bread  and 
cast  it  to  the  dogs, — are  you  not  smitten  to  your  knees  ? 
But,  my  brethren,  you  are  not  repulsed  even  by  that  sup- 
position, for  you  know  that  there  is  bread  enough  and  to 
spare ;  that  even  the  crumbs  from  the  Master's  table  may, 
in  the  Master's  hands,  be  multiplied  so  as  to  fill  all  mouths, 
and  satisfy  all  needs.  You  know  that  there  is  "enough 
for  each,  for  all,  for  evermore  "  at  the  table  of  the  Lord,  and 
you  boldly  face  the  facts  and  the  apparent  impossibilities 
that  even  grace  should  ever  overtake  these  millions  of 
starving  men.  At  length  the  Lord,  who  knows  all  that 
you  feel,  lets  fall  upon  your  yearning  heart  the  words, 
"  Great  is  thy  faith  ;  be  it  done  unto  thee  even  as  thou  wilt." 
Yet,  before  I  ask  you  to  accept  this  lifegiving  assurance 
that  your  faith  is  the  measure  and  the  prophecy,  and  even 
the  channel  of  Divine  benediction,  I  must  remind  you 
that  THE  WORLD  tells  you,  with  cynical  and  ironical  com- 
pliment, that  yom  faith  is  indeed  "great."  You  hear  the 
tones  of  its  scornful  laughter  rippling  through  the  popular 
journals,  "  Great  is  thy  faith ! "  What  is  meant,  however, 
by  the  world's  ironical  compliment  is  little  more  than  a 
heartless  reproach,  for,  in  other  words,  it  declares  that  you 
have  yielded  to  some  spasm  of '  excited  feeling,  that  you 
have  been  stirred  by  some  imperfect  apprehension  of  your 
task,  that  you  are  going  to  take  part  in  a  solemn  farce, 
that  you  are  going  on  a  fool's  errand.  Your  faith  has  run 
away  with  your  prudence,  your  glowing  motives  transcend 
your  reason.  "  Great  "  indeed  is  your  faith  if  you  imagine 
that  you  can  sap  the  giant  upas-tree  of  caste  in  India,  or 
grapple  with  the  ancient  superstitions  of  Feng-shui  in  China, 
or  present  a  doctrine  which  will  be  more  acceptable  to 
Mandarins  than  the  ethics  or  history  or  minstrelsy  of  their 


140  FAITH   THE  MEASURE  OF  BLESSING. 

sacred  books.  "  '  Great,'  "  says  the  jesting  world,  '' '  is  your 
faith  '  if  you  think  that  you  can  prove  that  '  the  Light  of 
the  world '  shines  more  brilliantly  than  *  the  light  of  Asia.' 
'  Great  is  your  faith '  if  you  believe  that  with  your  schools 
or  with  the  veneer  of  Western  civilization  drawn  over  the 
untamed  passions  of  the  Malagasy,  or  the  Papuan,  you  will 
ultimately  transform  them  into  Christian  people.  Atheism, 
Pantheism,  and  Fetichism,  idolatry  and  caste,  opium  and 
alcohol,  slavery  and  lust  will  be  too  mighty  for  you.  *  Great 
is  your  faith  ' !  "  Meanwhile,  you,  brethren,  bear  up  bravely 
under  this  avalanche  of  reproach,  and  you  are  confident 
that  a  faith  which  scattered  the  Olympian  gods  from  their 
high  places  in  Europe,  which  has  abolished  the  most  loath- 
some and  cruel  barbarism  by  the  magic  of  its  revelations, 
which  has  secured  its  trophies  in  every  field  of  exertion, 
and  over  every  kind  of  man,  may,  even  in  your  hands,  do 
wonders  yet  again.  You  have  each  taken  upon  your  heart 
the  burden  of  a  world,  you  have  agonized  over  its  sorrows 
and  have  identified  yourselves  with  the  sufferers,  and  you 
confidently  appeal  to  the  Lord  for  mercy.  I  hear  you 
murmuring  day  and  night  in  your  prayers  to  God,  ''  Lord, 
help  me ;  Lord,  help  me  !  This  heathen  world,  for  which 
I  am  willing  to  give  my  life,  is  grievously  vexed  and  ready 
to  die." 

But  the  Church  itself— English  society,  indeed,  in  its 
multiform  aspects  and  activities — often  smiles  its  approval 
at  the  enthusiasm  which  is  burning  up  your  self-will  and 
consecrating  your  life.  The  approval  does  not  always 
amount  to  sympathy.  The  Church  at  home,  though  it  has 
supplied  the  sinews  of  war,  and  a  machinery  which  positively 
is  on  a  large  scale,  utterly  fails  as  yet  to  appreciate  the 
magnitude  of  the  task  before  it.     When,  like  the  woman 


J^MTfl   THE   MEASURE   OF   BLESSING.  I41 

of  our  narrative,  the  missionary's  eager  cry  falls  on  the  car 
of  the  disciples,  we  hear  some  sensible  and  devout  persons 
echo  the  cold  rejoinder,  "  '  Send  her  away,  for  she  crieth 
after  ns.'  We  have  too  much  to  do  at  home  to  attend 
to  this  importunate  appeal."  Even  the  Church  misappre- 
hends the  test  to  which  the  Lord  submits  it,  when  He  seems, 
for  our  rebuke,  to  let  us  have  our  selfish  way,  and  suppose 
that  we  are  the  only  sheep  of  His  pasture,  that  we  must 
have  our  privileges,  our  attractive  services,  our  powerful 
preachers,  our  sacred  music,  our  treats  and  comforts,  the 
banquet  in  the  Father's  house,  let  the  slaves  and  the  dogs, 
the  lepers  and  the  pariahs  of  the  world,  the  fanatical  Hindu, 
the  self-satisfied  Moslem  fare  as  they  may.  When  the 
Lord,  to  our  confusion,  sends  us  a  plentiful  feast,  but  sends 
leanness  into  our  souls,  missionaries  are  fain,  nay,  are 
compelled  to  plead  for  the  crumbs,  the  fragments,  the 
broken  pieces  for  the  dying  world,  which  is  still  grievously 
vexed  by  the  devil  and  all  his  angels.  But,  my  beloved 
young  friends,  take  no  rebuff.  Plead  on  with  God  and  with 
men.  Be  true  princes  with  God  in  the  strife,  and  overcome 
Omnipotence  with  your  cry.  Let  us,  under  the  glances  of 
our  Lord's  criticizing  love,  see  what  the  rich  man's  table  is. 
How  it  groans  with  delicacies,  and  is  garnished  with  all 
kinds  of  savoury  viands  !  how  often  the  voice  is  heard, 
"The  oxen  and  fatlings  are  ready,  the  corn  and  wine  and 
oil  are  served,  all  things  are  ready  ! "  At  length,  after 
many  delays  and  excuses,  the  banquet  is  furnished  with 
guests ;  the  song  and  enthusiasm  rise  high.  Te  Dciims 
and  Magnificats  are  chanted  in  joyful  chorus  ;  waste  of 
strong  emotion  occurs,  and  fruitless  shouts  of  triumph 
simply  end  in  desire  for  another  banquet,  as  rich  in 
provision^  and  as  finely  seasoned  with  minstrelsy.     On  such 


142  FAITH   THE   MEASURE   OF   BLESSING. 

occasions  you  say  to  one  another,  "  Oh  for  the  crumbs 
which  fall  from  the  rich  man's  table  !  "  What  would  the 
heathen  world  not  give  for  service  which,  however  faithful 
and  spiritual,  is  not  seasoned  up  to  the  fastidiousness  of 
modern  English  taste  ?  If  heathendom  were  at  liberty  to 
feed  on  the  fragments  that  remain  over  and  above  when  all 
the  invited  guests  are  satisfied,  there  would  be  enough  and 
to  spare.  So,  my  dear  young  brethren,  pause  not  in  your 
pleading  for  help,  and  call  upon  the  Lord.  Give  Him  no 
peace  until  He  arise  and  have  mercy,  and  then  most 
assuredly  the  voice  will  come  from  His  excellent  glory — 
"  Young  men,  great  is  your  faith  ;  be  it  done  unto  you  even 
as  you  will." 

When  St.  Peter  in  the  direst  extremity  cried  aloud, 
"Lord,  save  vie!'^  he  was  thinking  only  of  his  own  life ; 
and  the  Lord's  answer  was,  "  O  thou  of  little  faith,  where- 
fore didst  thou  doubt?"  but  when  the  Syrophenician 
woman  had  lost  herself  in  the  safety  of  her  child,  and, 
against  all  temptation  to  distrust,  and  even  to  hopelessness, 
had  not  yet  despaired  of  the  love  or  power  of  the  Son^of 
man.  He  read  the  depths  of  that  riven  heart,  and  said, 
"O  woman,  great  is  thy  faith!"  Thus  the  faith  of  an 
apostle  in  those  days  may  have  been  less  than  the  faith  of 
a  youth  in  these  days  who,  looking  the  black  darkness 
of  devil-ridden  masses  in  the  face,  is  persuaded  that  Christ 
is  able  and  willing  "  to  save  to  the  uttermost  all  that  come 
unto  God  by  Him."  But  let  us  observe  that  a  ^^  little 
faith  "  may  grow  to  more,  may  perceive  in  the  very  silence 
and  reserve,  and  even  in  the  repulses  of  the  blessed  Lord, 
new  phases  of  His  nature,  and  may  cherish  fresh  love  to 
His  person,  and  so  the  ground  of  confidence  in  Him  may 
increase,  until  it  becomes  ^'- ^reat^     Faith  neither  seeks  nor 


FAITH   THE   MEASURE   OF   BLESSING.  143 

finds  a  demonstration  that  the  mind  cannot  resist.  It  may 
be  so  when  He  comes  in  the  clouds  and  every  eye  shall 
see  Him ;  but  as  yet  a  veil  is  round  about  His  throne. 
You  do  not  pretend  to  have  received  an  absolute  or  final 
revelation,  but  such  is  your  confidence  in  that  which  you 
have  received,  that  the  Lord  responds  to  your  self-conse- 
cration, ''Great  is  your  faith." 

Knov/ledge,  love,  faith,  prayer,  service, — what  strange 
powers  they  possess  !  They  are  linked  with  each  other  as 
heat,  motion,  electricity,  light  are  related  to  each  other, 
and  they  have  a  tendency  to  produce  one  another.  There 
must  be  some  initial  knowledge  to  believe  and  to  love ;  but 
just  in  proportion  to  the  simplicity  of  your  faith  and  the 
reality  of  your  love  is  your  knowledge  deepened.  When 
this  higher  knowledge  breaks  upon  you,  then  your  faith 
becomes  a  full  assurance,  an  invincible  and  real  assent;  then 
love  burns  more  fervently  and  flashes  a  higher  enthusiasm 
for  holy  service,  and  demands  self-abandonment.  If  faith 
be  great  and  strong,  it  becomes  ■sc prophecy^  a  seeing  of  the 
invisible,  a  knowledge  of  what  the  will  of  the  Lord  is. 
Your  hand  takes  hold  of  the  Lord's  hand ;  His  strength  is 
made  perfect  in  your  weakness.  The  expression  of  your 
faith  is  twofold.  It  takes  the  form  of  prayer  and  service, 
of  intercourse  with  God  and  consecrated  life.  The  highest 
conception  of  prayer  is  revealed  to  us  in  the  intercession  of 
Jesus.  Some  have  told  us  that  the  prayers  of  Jesus  are  a 
positive  disproof  of  the  idea  of  the  God-Man.  How,  say 
they,  should  God  in  Christ  pray  to  God?  My  brethren,  it 
seems  to  me  that  only  in  the  God-Man,  in  the  incarnation 
of  eternal  wisdom  and  power  and  love  in  Jesus,  can  the 
function  of  prayer  be  fully  exercised,  and  only  here  do  we 
see  its  true  ideal  realized.     Only  He  could  say,  ''  I  know 


144  FAITH   THE   MEASURE  OF   BLESSING. 

that  Thou  hearest  Me  always."     His  perfect  harmony  with 
the  will  of  God  rendered  His  prayer  a  prediction  of  what 
would  be.     His  desires,  for  ever  weaving  themselves  into 
supplications,  or  rather  communings  with  the  central  and 
supreme  Power  of  the  universe,  became  the  programme  of 
Providence  and  the  outline  of  the  future.     Further,  it  is 
just  in  proportion  as  your  own  hearts  and  minds  rise  up 
into  the  heart  and  will  of  your  Lord,  that  jw/r  importunate 
prayer  also  becomes  a  prophecy  of  God's  ways,  an  anticipa- 
tion of  what  He  will  do.     You  are  let  into  the  secret  of  His 
heart ;  you  know  that  the  answer  of  love  is  near,  and  that 
the  Lord  Jesus  will  triumph.     There  is  no  apparent  limit  to 
His  grace.     Ask  what  you  will,  and  it  shall  be  given ;  seek 
what  you  intensely  desire,  since  He  gave  you  the  desire, 
and  you  shall  find.     Press  Him  hard  with  what  faith  tells 
you  is  veritably  in  harmony  with  His  will,  and  you  will  have 
the  answ^er  of  peace.     Certainly,  if  God  hears  the  prayer  of 
man  at  all,  either  the  wishes  of  man  prevail  over  the  decrees 
of  God,  or  the  desires  of  man  must  have  been  purified  and 
lifted  up  into  the  purposes  of  the  Eternal.     But  this  is  not 
the  whole   of  the   mystery  and  miracle  of  prayer.      The 
prayers,  the  desires,  of  men  are  part  at  least  of  the  ways  in 
which  these  purposes  of  God  are  effectuated.     God  would 
seem  to  have  declared  Himself  incapable  of  feeding  one  of 
His  creatures  by  bread  only.    He  must  give  desire  or  hunger 
as  well  as  food.     He  must  give  not  only  the  wondrously 
constructed  atmosphere,  but  the  power  to  breathe  it.    There 
is  no  calculation  of  the  extent  to  which  the  yearning  of  any 
one  of  us  may  not  bring  down  blessings  upon  ourselves  and 
upon  one  another.     Unutterably  close,  but  for  the  most 
part  unconscious,  is  the  interwining  of  human"  destinies. 
Pray,  then,  without  ceasing,  and  your  prayer  may  be  not 


FAITH  THE   MEASURE  OF  BLESSING.  I45 

only  the  sign  of  your  having  entered  into  the  heart  of 
God,  but  the  very  channel  by  which  the  prayer  will  be 
answered.  Your  faith  is  great.  Be  it  unto  you  according 
as  you  will. 

Count  upon  great  things;  go  to  heathen  lands  with 
large  desires  that  the  evil  may  be  exorcised.  Count  upon 
much  blessing  for  these  lands  that  need  so  much  grace, 
for  these  souls  that  are  bound  and  manacled,  not  with 
feeble  threads,  but  with  fetters  of  iron.  If  your  faith  is 
great,  your  cry  will  be  importunate  and  triumphant,  and 
your  life  will  correspond  with  your  faith. 

You  may  ask  me.  What  faith  are  you  suggesting  ?  Is  it 
simply  faith  in  a  Divine  call  to  this  work,  and  a  persuasion 
that  God  is  good,  infinitely  better  than  we  are,  to  these 
heathen  peoples?  To  my  mind  it  is  more  than  this.  I 
admit  that  no  great  thing  has  often  (perhaps  ever)  been 
done  in  this  world,  save  by  those  who  were^  and  who  felt 
that  they  were,  predestiiied  by  God  to  serve  Him  along 
certain  revealed  lines.  Think  of  Abraham  and  Moses, 
David  and  St.  Paul,  St.  Athanasius  and  St.  Augustine,  Luther 
and  Columbus,  Cromwell  and  Livingstone.  These  men 
believed  that  God  had  destined  them  for  their  special 
services ;  but  the  faith  of  which  these  and  many  other 
narratives  speak  is  a  faith  about  and  in  God.  It  is  a 
saturation  of  mind  with,  and  submission  of  the  whole  will 
to,  a  great  revelation  of  the  righteousness  and  mercy  of 
God  proclaimed  in  the  atoning  work,  in  the  Divine  majesty 
and  claims  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  the  healing  power  of 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 

Faith  is  often  charged  with  being  credulity  of  under- 
standing, acceptance  of  statements  from  teachers  without 
sufficient  evidence  or  reason.     The  charge  ignores  the  fact 

L— 6 


t46  FAItH   THE   MEASURE  OF  BLESSING. 

that  we  possess  a  religious  nature  and  sensibility  which  sees 
the  invisible,  and  which  gives  invincible  assurance ;  and 
that  the  highest  truths  and  realities  thus  cognized  are  more 
certain  to  those  who  apprehend  them  than  any  conclusions 
drawn  from  sensible  phenomena  or  one-sided  logic.  Faith 
is  often  confounded  with  vain  religiosity,  as  though  the 
/acfs  presented  to  the  moral  and  religious  faculties  were  not 
as  'reliable  as  those  which  are  offered  to  the  senses  of  men 
and  generalized  by  the  experts  of  science.  Those  thinkers 
and  workers  will  rule  the  future  who  stand  closest  to  al/  the 
facts ;  certainly,  not  those  who  ignore  the  chief  facts 
revealed  to  our  religious  nature,  and  facts,  moreover,  which 
are  the  key  of  knowledge  to  all  the  facts  and  mysteries  of 
the  universe. 

Faith  is  not  compatible  with  the  self-sufficient  repudia- 
tion of  the  voice  that  has  come  to  you  from  the  excellent 
glory,  nor  is  it  a  blind  passion  to  diffuse  some  speculation 
of  your  own;  neither  is  it  a  vague  belief  that  it  will  be  all 
right,  or  all  the  same  with  everybody.  If  you  have  no 
steadfast  conviction,  no  real  message,  no  abiding  objective 
fact  which  stirs,  goads,  forces  you  from  within  to  obey  its 
behests,  it  is  not  too  late  to  renounce  the  enterprise.  Great 
faith  in  ample  and  sufficient  power  to  meet  every  kind  of 
sickness  and  peril  of  our  humanity  will  secure  the  Divine 
response,  and  this  it  is  which  we  covet,  for  you  and  for 
ourselves,  *'  Be  it  unto  you  according  as  you  will."  My 
brethren,  what  is  it  that  you  will  for  the  heathen  world? 
Is  it  simply  the  blessing  of  Western  civilization,  the  intro- 
duction of  a  higher  education,  the  uprising  of  a  noble  dis- 
content, the  careful  formulation  of  a  logical  creed,  the 
founding  of  new  institutions?  Verily,  all  these  things  arc 
good  as  means  to  an  end ;  but  nothing  short  ot  that  end 


FAITH  THE  MEASURE  OF  BLESSING.  1 47 

can  satisfy  you,  and  the  end  itself  is  what  you  have  so  far 
entered  into  the  heart  of  Jesus  as  to  crave,  and  into  the 
purpose  and  work  of  the  Christ  as  to  desire  beyond  all 
other  things. 

Now,  no  such  prayer  as  this  is  rational  without  corre- 
sponding eftbrt^  and  such  conduct  and  consecration  of  life 
as  may  conduce  to  the  sublime  end  of  all  this  soul-hunger. 
A  self-indulgent  life  would  vitiate  the  prayer  for  help.     Self- 
consideration,   collision    with  God,   rebellion   against   His 
providence  or  against  the  disappointments  of  your  service, 
or  any  weariness  or  resentment  at  the  apparent  silence  of 
God  our  Lord,  will  eat  out  the  spirit  and  power  of  prayer. 
There  does  come  at  times  over  the  spirit  of  every  missionary 
a  feeling  of  hopelessness,  as  though  he  had  attempted  more 
than  was  rational  or  even  possible  ;  but  do  not  exaggerate 
this  sentiment,  because,  here  at  home,  and  indeed  in  all 
departments  of  service,  we  are  attempting  absolute  impossi- 
bihties  unless  we  know  how  to  make  use  of  Divine  power. 
What  can  the  electrician  or  engineer,  the  astronomer  or  the 
navigator   accomplish,  until   he  finds  out  the  use  of  the 
inexhaustible  energies  of  Nature,  or  rather  of  the  Author 
of  Nature?     What   can   the   Christian   do,  in   facing   the 
tremendous  mysteries  of  life  and  death,  but  find  out  how  to 
appropriate  infinite  power,  righteousness,  and  love?    We 
here,  you  there,  are  attempting  impossibilities  to  the  mere 
wisdom  or  power  of  man  :  but  the  truths  you  have  to  speak 
are  seeds ;  the  seed  of  the  great  Harvest  is  the  Word  of 
God.     The  light  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  is  shining  in 
the  darkest  lands.     The  head  waters  of  the  river  of  life  are 
ready  to  diffuse  themselves.     Think  well  what  it  is,  then,  that 
you  "  will "  for  heathendom,  and  it  shall  be  done.     While 
you  go  forth  on  this  great  enterprise,  many  will  follow  you 


148  FAITH   THE   MEASURE  OF  BLESSING. 

with  their  prayers,  and,  "  like  a  fountain,  day  and  night," 
will  rise  the  cry  of  fellow-feeling,  of  deepest  sympathy,  and 
continual  intercession  for  you  to  the  heart  of  Jesus,  to  the 
throne  of  God. 


THE     FULNESS     OF    THE 
BLESSING    OF     THE     CHRIST. 


Preached  on  June  3,  1891,  <?/  Robert soti  Street  Chapel^  Hastings,  at  the 
ordination  of  a  missionary  appointed  for  service  in  A^eiv  Guinea. 


THE  FULNESS  OF  THE  BLESSING 
OF  THE  CIH<IST. 

"  When  I  come  unto  you,  I  shall  come  in  the  fulnc^is  of  the  blessing 
of  the  Christ."— RcM.  xv.  29. 

A  MIST  hangs  over  the  future  of  our  earthly  life,  as  laipene- 
trable  as  that  which  conceals  the  invisible  world.  The 
possibilities,  perils,  temptations,  and  tasks  of  the  future,  the 
collapse  of  our  brightest  anticipations,  the  development  of 
unknown  powers  now  slumbering  within  us,  the  utter 
change  of  our  surroundings,  the  possible  assaults  upon  our 
character,  the  cruelty  of  the  world,  the  triumphs  of  grace, 
may  lead  us  through  greater  mysteries  than  the  valley  of 
the  shadow  of  death  itself.  The  petulant  coward  who 
takes  his  own  life  confesses  that  it  is  easier  to  face  the 
invisible  and  eternal  world  than  to  encounter  the  reproach  of 
men  or  the  difficulties  of  circumstance.  The  martyr  can 
rush  to  the  stake  rather  than  condescend  to  tamper  with 
conscience  or  be  treacherous  to  truth,  and  he  confesses 
that  the  mystery  of  human  life  on  earth  is  as  great  as  the 
mystery  of  eternity. 

Every  man  who  has  an  unknown  enterprise  before  him 


152  THE   FULNESS    OF   THE   BLESSING 

observes,  it  is  true,  a  line  of  light  borrowed  from  his  own  or 
his  brother's  scant  experience  which  indicates  the  probable 
form  of  his  earthly  future,  but  as  to  the  perplexing  and  all- 
important  details  of  time  and  season,  of  success  or  failure, 
of  bereavement  or  privation,  he  knows  nothing,  he  sees 
through  a  glass  darkly.  The  young  missionary  who  forms 
only  the  faintest  image  of  the  principalities  and  powers  that 
will  confront  him^  who  anticipates  poignantly  the  peril 
arising  from  the  hypocrisy  or  insensibility  of  the  heathen, 
the  agony  which  creeps  over  him  from  the  ennui  and 
isolation  of  his  own  heart  or  the  gigantic  work  he  is 
attempting,  may  rationally  feel  that  he  has  undertaken  a 
responsibility  utterly  beyond  his  own  strength.  My  young 
brother,  unless  you  are  sent  forth  by  Christ  Himself,  the 
difficulties  which  encumber  and  encompass  you  will  be  too 
great  for  you.  You  need  the  sense  of  alliance  with  super- 
natural order  and  of  Divine  commission,  and  you  must  be 
as  sure  as  St.  Paul  was  of  your  moral  union  with  Christ, 
you  must  be  certified  that  nothing  can  separate  you  from 
the  love  of  God  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  You  must  be 
sure  of  yourself  to  this  extent,  that,  whatever  happens  to 
you,  Christ  is  the  same,  and  your  moral  relation  to  Him 
cannot  be  essentially  modified  in  any  conceivable  circum- 
stance that  may  arise,  either  in  this  world  or  the  next 
world.  St.  Paul  ultimately  reached  Rome  in  a  different 
phght  from  that  which  he  anticipated  when  he  wrote  these 
exhilarating  words,  nevertheless  they  were  a  true  description 
of  the  mood,  the  courage,  the  hopefulness,  the  faitli,  the 
vision  with  which  he  faced  the  Roman  courts,  the  Pr?etorian 
guards,  the  unbelieving  Jews,  the  Christian  believers  of  the 
imperial  city.  Bonds  and  imprisonment  awaited  him,  but 
"  in  the  fulness  of  the  blessing  of  the  Christ  "  he  knew  how 


OF   THE   CFIRIST.  153 

to  be  abased.  Contradiction  and  blaspheming  confronted 
him,  but  in  the  power  of  that  fdness  of  blessing  he  learned 
in  whatever  state  he  was,  therewith  to  be  content.  Dark 
hours  rolled  over  him,  but  the  fulness  of  the  blessing  turned 
the  shadow  of  death  into  the  morning.  Unbelief,  ignorance, 
idolatry  and  lies,  unutterable  sins  and  the  memory  of  his 
own  rebellion  against  the  supreme  love  harrowed  his  tender 
heart,  but  it  was  his  earnest  expectation  and  burning 
desire  that  Christ  might  be  magnified  either  in  his  Hfe  or 
byliis  death.  The  fulness  of  the  blessing  encompassed 
him  like  a  cloud  of  glory.  When  he  was  weak,  then  he 
was  strong  ;  he  found  in  it  consolation  in  distress  and 
strength  for  duty.  Let  us  take  the  same  motto  as  our 
breastplate  and  our  helmet,  our  shield  and  sw^ord,  and  thus 
equip  ourselves  for  every  great  and  solemn  undertaking, 
however  mysterious  it  may  be. 

There  are  other  and  rival  principles  of  service.  Many 
of  these  are  fairly  excellent  in  their  way,  and  need  not  be 
discounted  as  valueless;  but,  my  young  brother,  they  are 
not  adequate  to  your  requirements,  (i)  Thus  the  fulness 
of  the  blessings  of  Westerfi  civilizatiofi  is  not  to  be  under- 
rated. Roads  and  houses,  ships  and  weapons,  tools  and 
books,  legitimate  trade  and  applied  science  are  admirable ; 
but  you  have  something  more  precious  than  all  these. 
Music  and  medicine  and  magic  lanterns  may  arrest  atten- 
tion, but  nothing  short  of  the  blessing  of  the  Christ  will  be 
the  panoply  in  which  you  move,  and  the  treasure  you  have 
to  convey.  Again  :  (2)  the  fulness  of  the  blessing  of  a 
sound  and  liberal  education  is  ennobling  and  uplifting. 
You  must  and  will  endeavour  to  quicken  all  the  mental 
faculties  of  the  heathen  among  whom  you  live,  and  wall 
put   every  healthful  thought  into  the  minds  of  the  young 


154  THE   FULNESS   OF   THE   BLESSING 

generation  that  is  rising  around  you.  But  you  go  in  the 
full  determination  to  lead  them  into  the  highest  wisdom 
needed  by  sage  and  child,  by  Greek  and  Barbarian,  bond 
and  free ;  you  would  make  them  wise  unto  salvation,  or 
you  fail  altogether.  Again  :  (3)  you  might  go  in  the  fulness 
of  the  blessing  of  an  ortliodox  creed ;  and  few  are  less 
ready  than  I  to  undervalue  the  vast  importance  of  a  sound 
and  rational  construction  of  Christian  belief.  A  thinker 
who  has  no  theological  principles,  and  no  settled  con- 
victions which  link  him  with  the  great  brotherhood  of 
believers, — who  has  no  tidings,  no  message  to  deliver  which 
he  holds  to  be  true  and  trustworthy, — is  exposed  to  con- 
fusion at  the  blast  of  the  hostile  wind  of  controversy  or 
doctrine.  But  you  are  in  dire  need  of  what  is  incalculably 
more  precious  still,  viz.  the  fulness  of  the  blessing  of  the 
living  Christ.  (4)  You  might  go  in  the  fulness  of  the  blessing 
of  an  ordination  granted  to  you  by  Episcopal  hands,  linking 
you  by  some  artificial  mechanism  with  the  historic  Churches 
of  England  or  Rome.  I  am  far  from  denying  that  some 
men  may  find  this  to  be  a  comfort,  an  inspiration,  and 
a  strength  to  them.  They  may  assert,  and  the  heathen  may 
believe,  that  they,  in  virtue  of  this,  can  work  invisible  and 
impalpable  miracles  upon  the  bodies  and  souls  of  men. 
But  j^/<;  need  that  which  is  indefinitely  greater  than  this  ; 
you,  if  you  go,  must  do  so  in  the  fulness  of  the  blessing  of  the 
ever-living  and  Divine  Christ  Himself.  Without  the  realiza- 
tion of  that  supreme  benediction,  which  is  more  real  than  any 
other  fact  in  your  experience,  not  only  you,  but  they  also, 
will  utterly  fail  of  the  end  at  which  you  both  aim.  (5)  Some, 
again,  go  forth  in  what  they  regard  as  the  fulness  of  the 
blessing  of  some  critical  methods,  or  of  certain  scientific 
dogmas,  which  happen  to  be  in  vogue  to-day,  but  which 


OF   THE   CHRIST.  I  55 

will  be  strangely  modified  to-morrow,  which  need  a  power 
of  criticism  yet  before  they  are  verified,  and  ^often  lead 
honest  men  into  perilous  confusion  before  they  are  aware. 
Weapons  of  distinction  and  precision  are  very  well  in  their 
way,  but  they  recoil  on  those  Avho  use  them  carelessly  or 
ignorantly.  The  knowledge  of  them  ofttimes  puffeth  up, 
and  recklessly  destroys  that  which  should  be  tenderly 
protected  from  injury.  You  cannot  do  without  the  fulness 
of  a  blessing  which,  being  already  verified  in  your  own 
experience,  is  above  all  suspicion  and  proof  against  all 
criticism,  one  which  you  invincibly  hold,  as  a  reality  more 
certain  than  any  dogma,  however  it  is  bepraised  or  trusted. 
(6)  Some  missionaries  may  enter  on  their  work  in  the 
fulness  of  the  blessing  of  a  vigorous  philanthropy,  of  a 
doctrine  of  ascetic  self-sacrifice,  of  a  manly  determination 
to  live  a  good  life  before  men,  doing  justly  and  loving 
mercy,  setting  forth  an  example  of  fortitude  and  charity, 
purity  and  justice.  Nor  do  I  assert  that  such  purposes  are 
vain  or  fruitless.  Beautiful  buildings  may  be  raised  upon 
sand,  or  constructed  upon  ice ;  but  rain  and  wind  and 
even  sunshine  will  level  them  to  the  ground.  Principles 
like  these  need  a  deep  foundation  or  a  living  root.  Graces 
of  character  which  have  no  spiritual  source  resemble 
artificial  flowers  surreptitiously  threaded  to  a  barren  or 
dead  tree.  You  crave  some  stronger  principle,  some  surer 
benediction,  and  you  will  not  find  this  except  in  the  real 
presence  of  Him  who  is  the  life-giving  source  of  all  holi- 
ness, and  in  the  constraining  energy  of  a  love  to  Him  who 
is  the  Life  and  Light  of  the  world,  "  Jesus  Christ,  the  same 
yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever." 

All  these  rival  principles  have  value  if  they  be  the  out- 
come and  offshoot  of  the  Divine  life,   but  by  themselves 


156  THE   FULNESS   OF   THE  BLESSING 

they  have  failed.  They  are  of  the  earth,  of  time,  of  sense, 
and  belong  to  the  world  that  is  passing  away ;  they  belong 
to  a  lower  sphere  of  life  and  activity ;  they  cannot  soar 
above  the  low  level  of  self-created  energy;  they  all  fall 
short  of  "  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus  our 
Lord,"  short  of  the  "light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of 
God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ ; "  far  behind  "  the  fulness  of 
the  blessing  of  the  Christ." 

I  wish,  then,  to  (Jwell  for  a  few  moments  on  that  blessings 
and  then  on  i\\Q  fulness  of  it. 

The  blessing  of  ike  Christ  f  what  is  it  but  a  realization 
within  yourself  of  that  which  is  essential  to  Him— the 
benediction  which  comes  from  being  in  Christ,  and 
having  Christ  in  you^  of  being  saturated  with  the  thought 
and  charged  with  the  Word  and  filled  with  the  Spirit  of 
Christ  ?  Tills  blessing  will  be  your  power  for  good,  your 
panacea  for  all  evil,  your  energy  and  enthusiasm,  your 
courage  and  joy  in  danger,  your  reason  for  every  great  enter- 
prise and  even  for  the  smallest  duty,  your  patience  in  dis- 
appointment, your  endurance  unto  the  end,  your  watchword 
at  the  gate  of  death,  your  welcome  into  the  Fathers 
house.  Is  it  possible  to  overstate  "the  blessing  of  the 
Christ  "  ?  Doubtless  it  has  many  aspects.  Every  phase  of 
the  blessing,  like  the  separate  colours  of  the  spectrum,  is 
of  immeasurable  value;  but  to  know  how  transcendent 
this  blessing  is,  it  may  be  well  to  glance  at  some  of  these 
aspects. 

Thus  (i)  He  is  the  ideal  of  your  manhood.  He  is 
your  greatest  man.  He  surpasses  in  moral  sublimity,  and 
in  the  blending  of  many  and  often  opposed  qualities,  all 
that  we  ever  have  heard  or  conceived  of  humanity  at  its 
very  best.     Combine  the  excellences  of  the  highest  men, 


OF   THE   CHRIST.  I  57 

who  all  suffer  from  some  drawback,  deficiency,  or  fault ; 
let  Moses  and  Confucius,  Solomon  and  Socrates,  St.  Paul 
and  Buddha,  Augustine  and  Fene'lon,  Luther  and  Mohammed 
pass  in  review  before  Him,  and  their  lustre  pales  and 
vanishes  in  the  light  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness.  You 
have  a  goal  of  perfection  in  His  character  which  no 
evolution  will  ever  transcend  or  equal.  It  will  be  a 
l^erpetual  inspiration  to  you  ;  and  whether  you  are  confront- 
ing the  ideals  of  Greek  and  Barbarian,  of  Oriental  sage,  or 
European  philosopher.  He  will  always  be  far  beyond  and 
above  them,  and  yet,  within  certain  specific  exceptions,  He 
will  be  more  available  as  an  example,  more  imitable  as  a 
leader  and  master,  than  they  all.  We  have  become  almost 
too  familiar  with  the  memorials  of  our  Lord's  character. 
We  pastors  and  teachers  at  home  almost  covet  the  grand 
chance  you  have  of  making  known  such  a  manhood,  such 
a  miracle  of  majesty  and  mercy,  of  authority  and  sympathy, 
of  spotless  rectitude  and  passionate  pity,  of  a  purity  and 
righteousness  that  brings  men  to  their  knees,  and  of  a  love 
which  induces  them  in  self-despair  to  kiss  His  feet,  and 
cry  with  adoring  gratitude,  ''  Lord,  I  will  follow  Thee 
whithersoever  Thou  goest." 

But  (2)  the  blessing  of  the  Christ  is  much  more  than 
this.  Though  He  is  the  highest  holiest  Man,  He  is  the 
only  sufficient  manifestation  of  the  living  God.  His  know- 
ledge of  God  goes  back  into  the  past  eternity.  For  ever 
and  ever  He  has  received  and  responded  to  an  Infinite 
Love.  You  feel  that,  in  having  Him,  you  have  taken  hold 
of  the  central  power  and  authority  of  the  universe.  In 
knowing  Him,  you  know  the  Father.  In  that  He  is 
incarnate  God,  you  can  be  calm  amid  the  boundless  spaces 
and  the  measureless  time.     The  vastness  of  the  universe 


158  THE  FULNESS  OF  THE  BLESSING 

does  not  bewilder  you,  the  eternities  do  not  crush  your 
thought,  the  resistless  powers  do  not  abolish  or  mock  you, 
for  you  know  you  have  reached  their  very  centre,  and  are 
at  peace.  When  you  cry  "My  Lord  and  my  God,"  you 
know  that  this  Lord  has  all  power,  and  is  able  to  save  you, 
to  shield  you  from  the  strange  and  awful  possibilities  of  the 
unseen  world.  You  are  "  persuaded  that  neither  life  nor 
death,  neither  angels,  principalities,  nor  powers,  neither 
things  present  nor  things  to  come,  neither  height,  nor 
depth,  nor  any  other  creature,  shall  be  able  to  separate  us 
from  the  love  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord." 

(3)  The  blessing  of  Christ  is  not  limited  by  the 
perfect  Humanity  and  the  absolute  Divinity  that  are  indis- 
solubly  blended  in  His  person.  The  heart  of  man  is 
broken,  and  needs  a  healer.  The  sins  of  your  own  life 
convince  you  that  you  would  have  cut  yourself  off  from 
these  consolations,  unless  you  had  found  a  Redeemer,  an 
Expiation  for  sin,  a  Fountain  which  can  positively  take  away 
and  cleanse  from  all  iniquity.  The  unsurpassable  splendour 
of  the  Divine  Humanity  would  be  a  dubious  consolation 
after  all,  if  you  did  not  know  that  His  infinite  power  brings 
all  the  perfections  of  God  to  bear  on  human  sinfulness,  to 
eat  out  the  curse  in  our  nature,  to  rectify  our  personal 
relations  with  the  eternal  order.  The  example  and  glory 
of  Christ  are  not  the  ivJiok  of  the  blessing  in  which  you 
live  and  move  and  have  your  being.  The  men  and  women 
whom  you  now  are  undertaking  to  teach  have  to  face 
death,  and  to  triumph  over  their  fears  touching  a  deeper  and 
a  second  death.  You  have  a  sublime  gospel  to  tell  them  : 
it  is,  that  the  Incarnate  God  bore  their  sins  and  carried 
their  sorrows,  that  He  represented  on  the  Cross  the 
subHme  fact  that  the  Lamb  was  slain  from  the  foundation 


I 


OF   THE   CHRIST.  159 

of  the  world,  and  that,  by  His  resurrection  and  ascension, 
He  opened  the  eyes  of  those  who  knew  Him  best  to  see 
Him  as  the  "  Lamb  slain  in  the  midst  of  the  throne."  You 
have  a  gospel  larger  than  the  entire  encyclopaedia  of 
science  or  civilization,  when  you  declare  without  shrinking 
that  the  blood  of  Christ  not  only  was  shed  for  the  remission 
of  sin,  but  that  it  cleanseth  from  all  unrighteousness. 
You  have  to  show^  by  a  perpetual  effort,  by  endless  illustra- 
tion, by  copious  experience,  by  untiring  zeal,  by  reiteration 
that  should  flow  like  waves  upon  the  river  of  life,  that  this 
pardon  does  cleanse,  that  the  cleansing  by  the  blood  of  Christ 
is  the  sure  and  only  guarantee  of  pardon.  Men  must  hate 
and  trample  upon  the  sins  which  need  such  means  to  pardon 
them.  The  new  life  is  the  best  assurance  of  faith. 
Holiness  is  the  sacred  and  satisfying  proof  of  the  faith 
which  has  taken  hold  of  God. 

But  again  (4),  the  blessing  or  the  benediction  of  Christ 
did  not  terminate  on  the  cross  or  in  the  cloud  which  received 
Him  from  human  sight.  Strange  flashes  of  light  have 
gleamed  from  that  unmeasured  glory.  The  breath  of  Heaven 
— now  gentle  as  a  zephyr,  soft  as  the  waving  of  a  dove's  wing, 
exhilarating  human  hope,  producing  the  mind  of  Christ  in 
human  hearts,  leading  the  Church  into  every  kind  of  truth, 
substituting  the  glory  of  Christ  for  the  claims  of  self, — the 
Spirit  of  the  Father  and  the  Son — becomes  the  atmosphere 
breathed  by  the  new-born  soul.  But  this  Heavenly  breath 
is  sometimes  rushing  and  mighty,  strong  as  tempest,  com- 
pelling submission,  subduing  the  earth,  convincing  the 
world  of  sin,  of  righteousness,  and  judgment  to  come. 

Moreover,  this  sublime  benediction  has  so  wrought  into 
the  very  warp  and  woof  of  human  nature  as  to  be  insepar- 
able from  it ;  nothing  but  absolute  annihilation  of  the  soul 


l66  THE   FULNESS   OF   THE   BLESSING 

can  destroy  it :  and  thus,  however  perplexing  and  mysterious 
life  before  or  after  death  may  prove,  untold  myriads  know 
that  they  are  living  in  Christ  and  He  in  them,  by  the 
eternal  Spirit  that  He  has  breathed  into  them.  They  have 
become  conscious  possessors  of  an  eternal  life,  which  sets 
all  chance  or  change  at  defiance.  This  Christ-life  within  a 
man  transforms  him  so  radically  that  the  difference  between 
the  new  and  the  old  life  is  more  surprising  than  that  which 
separates  animal  from  human  life,  and  it  even  approximates 
that  which  separates  a  corpse  from  a  living  man. 

Now,  every  portion  of  this  "blessing  of  the  Christ" 
quivers  and  vibrates  with  the  eternal  force  which  constitutes 
the  very  being  of  every  other  portion.  Every  fraction  of 
the  reality  has  the  tendency  which  may  bring  all  spiritual 
things  to  bear  upon  the  soul,  just  as  the  fractions  of  a  magnet 
retain  the  magnetic  properties  and  relations  of  the  whole, 
and  can  be  shown  to  stand  in  veritable  and  startling 
harmony  with  the  poles  of  this  great  world.  Wheresover 
you  see  the  trembling  of  a  soul  in  prayer  and  find  the 
strange  rapture  of  a  sense  of  pardon,  which  has  overcome  the 
sense  of  sin,  you  know  that  the  pulses  of  the  Divine  life 
have  begun  to  beat,  and  that  they  will  throb  for  ever  in  that 
soul. 

But,  once  more,  the  most  comprehensive  blessing  of  all 
is,  that  Jesus  is  "Lord  of  all,"  is  Master  of  every  soul, 
Head  of  every  community.  King  of  every  nation,  the 
Supreme  Son  of  God.  They,  to  whom  you  can  teach  this, 
overcome  the  world,  they  triumph  over  the  world's  fashions, 
they  are  indifferent  to  the  world's  praise  or  blame,  they 
outlive  the  world's  smile,  and,  in  the  darkest  hour,  they  cry, 
*'  Thine  is  the  kingdom,  the  power,  and  the  glory  for 
ever ! " 


OF   THE   CHRIST.  i6t 

Now,  in  few  words  let  me  impress  upon  you  that  you 
are  to  enter  upon  your  work  in  "  the  fulness  of  the  blessing 
of  the  Christ."  Half  the  evils  which  have  afflicted  the 
Church  or  arrested  the  Divine  life  have  arisen  from  the 
dismemberment  of  the  Christ ;  from  losing  sight  of,  or 
losing  touch  with,  some  essential  element  in  this  ample, 
this  opulent  blessing. 

Some  men  are  ready  to  ignore  His  Divinity,  some  as 
perilously  to  forget  His  human  sympathy.  Some  generations 
have  so  exalted  His  character  and  example  as  to  lose  all 
appreciation  of  His  priesthood  and  sacrifice,  and  the 
offering  of  His  body  once  for  all.  Some  have  so  emphasized 
His  atonement  as  to  lose  sight  of  His  regal  claims,  His 
awful  righteousness,  His  commandments,  and  His  Spirit. 
Many  have  so  dwelt  on  the  life  He  lived  eighteen  hundred 
years  ago,  as  to  conceal  from  view  the  fact  that  in  Divine 
humanity  He  fills  all  things  and  lives  for  evermore,  "  the 
same  yesterday,  to-day,  for  ever."  Go  to  your  work  in  the 
fulness  of  the  blessing  of  the  Christ ;  comprehend  with  all 
saints  the  height  and  depth,  the  length  and  breadth,  and 
know  the  love  of  Christ  which  passeth  knowledge,  that 
you  may  be  filled  with  the  fulness  of  Him  that  fiUeth  all  in 
all.  May  it  produce  the  simplicity  of  life,  the  reverence 
and  holy  trust,  the  self-sacrifice  and  devotion,  the  prayerful- 
ness  and  consecration,  which  a  blessing  so  many-sided  and 
abundant  is  designed  to  produce  !  Charge  yourself  anew 
with  this  fulness.  Be  in  it,  and  let  it  abide  in  you,  and  you 
will  not  only  communicate  the  great  benediction  to  others, 
but  will  actually  augment  its  force  and  vindicate  its  glory. 


M— 6 


WAITING     UPON     THE     LORD. 


WAITING  UPON  THE  LORD. 

"  They  that  wait  upon  the  Lord  shall  renew  their  strength  ;  tliey 
shall  mount  up  with  wings  as  eagles  ;  they  shall  run,  and  not  be  weary  ; 
they  shall  walk,  and  not  faint." — Is  A,  xl.  31. 

The  problem  of  life  becomes  more  weird  as  the  ages  roll. 
When  self- consciousness  is  half  awake,  and  the  infant 
spirit  is  dancing  like  a  feather  in  the  breezes  of  spring,  the 
thought  of  whence  it  came  and  whither  it  is  bound  does 
not  haunt  the  memory  or  blight  the  future.  When  once 
the  consciousness  of  self  is  stirred,  and  man  finds  that  he  is 
not  what  he  seems,  that  the  centre  of  his  personality  is 
behind  all  the  veil  of  sense,  that  he  is  a  spirit,  that  he  /las 
a  body,  then  the  conflict  has  begun  which  never  ceases. 
The  whole  of  life  is  a  fruitless  effort  to  crush  or  deny,  to 
educate  or  soothe,  the  strange  perturbation  that  has  arisen. 
Doubtless  Oriental  mind,  by  hard  schooling  and  hereditary 
habit,  has  to  some  extent  applied  a  narcotic  to  the  restless 
inquiry,  and  found  solace  in  the  belief  of  an  all-encompass- 
ing illusion ;  and  so  it  murmurs  in  words  like  these — 

*'  For  all  that  laugh,  and  all  that  weep, 

And  all  that  breathe  are  one  ; 

Slight  ripple  on  the  boundless  deep 

That  moves,  and  all  is  gone." 


1 66  WAITING   UPON   THE   LORD. 

But,  then,  as  Tennyson's  ancient  sage  replies — 

**  That  one  ripple  on  the  boundless  deep 
Feels  that  the  deep  is  boundless,  and  itself 
For  ever  changing  form,  but  evermore 
One  with  the  boundless  motion  of  the  deep." 

Neither  asceticism,  nor  the  forcible  extinction  of  desire, 
nor  the  wildest  license  of  illusive  pleasure,  nor  intellectual 
denial  of  the  soul,  nor  harsh  blasphemy  against  nature  or 
God,  nor  any  struggling  with  the  thews  of  a  Titan  to  be 
free,  nor  any  courage  of  despair,  nor  any  contemplated 
suicide,  ever  really  ended  the  strife.  He  who  has  found 
out  that  he  is  a  spirit,  akin  to  the  tremendous  Spirit  that  is 
back  of  all  things,  even  of  the  tiniest  and  the  vastest,  must 
continue  the  search  for  some  solution  of  his  questions, 
''Whence  came  I?"  ''What  and  why  am  I?"  "Whither 
am  I  bound?"  These  questions,  now  with  rattling  in- 
cisiveness,  again  with  long  low  moan  as  of  a  wintry  sea,  are 
evermore  heard  within  him. 

Every  life  is  confronted  with  the  sharp  cries  that  love 
hears  issuing  from  the  bewildering  self-consciousness  of 
another,  and  the  multitudinous  sighs  of  man  become,  as 
they  are  pondered,  loud  as  mighty  thunderings,  and  the 
tears  that  are  shed  over  these  mysteries  would  fill  all  the 
four  oceans  of  the  world. 

Bereavement,  loss  of  friendship,  violent  uprooting  of 
old  and  quiet  resting-places,  perpetual  apprehension  and 
fear  of  what  is  worse,  aggravate  the  sense  of  helplessness 
and  dependence,  and  sometimes  suggest,  in  the  very 
extremity  of  despair,  a  gleam  of  hope. 

The  sense  of  collision  with  the  Power  which  is  above 
and  behind  all,  the  miserable  aversion  to  what  is  best  and 
wisest  in  it,  enmity  to  the  eternal  Righteousness,  goodness, 


WAITING   UPON   THE   LORD.  1 67 

and  power,  forbid  rest  and  sap  strength.  Whensoever  a 
man  finds  out  that  his  inner  self,  his  own  spirit,  is  on  one 
side  and  the  Infinite  force  on  the  other,  he  may  become 
alive  to  the  fact  that  he  is  himself  to  blame  for  this  enmity, 
that  he  is  the  cause  of  his  own  unrest ;  and  the  problem 
becomes  even  more  intolerable.  "  Deep  calleth  unto 
deep." 

Moreover,  the  consciousness  not  only  of  evil  done  but 
of  duty  left  undone,  of  opportunities  wasted,  of  "  chains  of 
lead  about  the  flight  of  fire,"  of  goals  lost  sight  of,  ends 
unfulfilled,  and  all  the  threads  of  life  tangled  and  ravelled, 
begets  further  agony ;  and  so  we  hear  outside  of  us  and 
within  us  booming  up  the  cry,  "  Oh,  wretched  man  that  I 
am,  who  will,  who  can  deliver  me  ?  " 

Yes,  verily  !  one  can  only  look  at  the  fierce  haste  after 
pleasure,  the  absorbing  pursuit  of  gain,  the  loathsome 
struggle  for  pre-eminence  under  the  mask  of  principle  and 
patriotism  and  zeal  for  truth,  as  another  form  of  the  same 
despairing  cry,  "Who  will  show  us  any  good?"  Is  it 
romantic,  illusory  in  itself,  to  go  to  Isaiah  of  Jerusalem  for 
some  solace,  some  secret  of  peace  ?  How  can  the  Hebrew 
seer  lift  the  burden  off  the  heart  of  the  Western  world  in 
the  nineteenth  century  of  Christendom  ?  Yet,  verily,  when 
some  of  God's  dear  prophets  have  spoken  their  noblest  and 
best,  we  find  that  the  tones  of  their  voice  have  set  other 
prophetic  souls  vibrating  with  the  same  note,  affirming  the 
truth,  confirming  the  utterance. 

Some  chords  well  struck  waken  resonant  murmurs  in  all 
the  corresponding  strings  of  the  great  harp  of  human  life. 
If  we  listen  to  Isaiah's  triumphant  discovery,  we  find  it  is 
enriched  and  deepened  and  made  sonorous  in  many  a  word 
of  Him   who   is   the  Word   incarnate.     "  Wait   upon  the 


l6S  WAITING   UrON    THE   LORD. 

Lord  "  finds  its  answer  in  "  Come  unto  Me,  and  I  will  give 
you  rest." 

It  is  well-nigh  impossible  to  unwind  the  meanings  of  this 
wondrous  phrase.  There  are  not  fewer  than  twenty  different 
words  in  the  Llebrew  and  Greek  Scriptures  which  are  all 
translated  by  one  English  word  "  wait,"  and  this  simple  fact 
shows  us  how  the  prophetic  and  troubled  souls  of  God- 
taught  men  have  strained  and  writhed  to  express  the 
thought  that  was  in  them.  I  think  they  may  be  reduced 
to  three  fundamental  ideas — silence^  hope,  and  eager  ex- 
pectancy. The  prophets  call  on  their  souls  to  wait  silently 
and  patiently,  to  ivait  hopefully,  and  to  wait  expectantly,  for 
the  Lord. 

A  few  remarks  on  each  of  these  notes  in  the  great 
chord.  Each  note  represents  one  element  of  relief,  one 
attempt  at  the  solution  of  the  portentous  questions  which 
the  soul  awakened  to  know  itself  and  to  see  its  peril  must 
ask  with  ever-deepening  solemnity. 

I.  Silence  before  God  the  Lord.  ''  Be  still  and  know 
that  I  am  God."  ''Truly  my  soul  is  silenced  before  God." 
When  the  Lord  answered  Job  out  of  the  whirlwind.  Job 
answered  and  said,  "  I  lay  my  hand  upon  my  mouth.  Once 
have  I  spoken  and  I  will  not  answer,  yea  twice,  but  I  will 
proceed  no  further."  This  silent  waiting  is  the  patient  and 
still  endurance,  the  quiet  abiding  in  Christ  our  Jehovah. 
This  is  the  patience  which  does  not  give  way  in  the  hour  of 
trial  which  comes  to  try  all  those  that  dwell  on  the  earth. 
This  is  the  grace  which  has  made  the  martyrs  calm  when  the 
heaven  did  not  open  and  send  down  avengers  to  save  them 
from  the  lions  or  the  hungry  fire.  To  understand  it  at  its 
loftiest  and  best  we  must  go  to  Gethsemane  and  hear  the 
Holiest  One  cry,  "Not  as  I  will,  but  as  Thou  wilt."     This 


WAITING   UPON   THE   LORD.  169 

is  the  secret  of  the  noblest  mystics  who  lost  their  self-will, 
not  by  obliterating  consciousness,  but  by  a  sense  of  the 
holiness  and  goodness  of  the  Lord  God,  so  that  they  could 
lie  content,  absolutely  silent,  profoundly  quiet  and  passive, 
in  the  arms  of  the  besetting  God.  When  we  can  thoroughly 
trust  in  the  living  God  the  mystery  is  read,  the  deepest 
shadow  is  accepted,  the  horror  of  great  darkness  is  felt  to 
be  the  hollow  of  the  hand  of  Him  who  dwelleth  in  the 
thick  clouds.  This  kind  of  waiting  upon  the  Lord  is 
closely  akin  to  the  abandonment  of  self  which  reconciliation 
with  God  insures  at  the  beginning  of  our  spiritual  life,  and 
is  often  much  needed  when  new  perplexities  arise  to  our 
faith  which  the  mere  reason  cannot  solve  and  which  no 
experience  can  adequately  meet.  There  are  moments  of 
transition  and  unclothing,  when  the  troubled  and  worried 
spirit  had  best  be  silent.  Sometimes  when  the  fancied 
ornaments  of  the  temple  of  God  are  being  removed  by 
ruthless  hands,  we  are  tempted  to  think  that  the  whole 
structure  is  about  to  fall  and  involve  all  that  is  most 
precious  to  us  in  immediate  ruin.  Let  us  wait  silently  and 
patiently,  let  us  wait  only  upon  Him,  and  we  shall  find 
that  the  removal  of  the  supposed  beauty  adds  to  its  true 
glory  and  its  veritable  stability.  We  may  easily  be  induced 
by  clamour  and  passion  to  suppose  that  some  showy 
buttresses  to  God's  truth  and  temple  are  essential  to  its 
continuance.  Let  us  wait  patiently,  and  we  shall  before 
long  renew  our  strength  of  conviction  in  the  imperishable 
solidity  of  the  foundations  which  can  never  be  destroyed. 
Those  things  which  cannot  be  shaken  remain,  even  when 
the  earth  and  heavens  are  shaken  and  the  elements  are 
melting  w^ith  fervent  heat.  Such  silent  waiting  casts  all 
the  responsibility  upon  God,  as  upon  One  who  is  great 


I/O  WAITING   UPON   THE   LORD. 

enough  and  strong  enough  and  wise  enough  to  solve  all 
problems  in  His  own  time  and  way.  It  does  not  hope,  nor 
fear;  it  does  not  moan,  neither  does  it  sing.  "In  the  Lord 
Himself,"  such  silent  watcher  says,  "  I  have  confidence  and 
strength."     God  is  all  and  in  all. 

There  are  moments  of  fierce  trial  for  old  Christians, 
when  certain  formulae  seem  to  have  vanished,  some  flowers 
and  fruits  of  grace  seem  to  be  sucked  out  and  squeezed 
of  all  sweetness,  and  some  phraseology  sanctified  by  long 
usage  appears  to  have  lost  its  savour  and  even  its  meaning. 
These  discoveries  are  like  looking  into  the  burning  fiery 
furnace,  and  the  best  form  of  our  waiting  upon  the  Lord 
is  to  be  still,  and  know  that  God  is  God. 

Moreover,  there  are  physical  trials  and  domestic  losses 
quite  beyond  measurement  and  human  endurance.  The 
desolation  is  complete.  The  agony  is  piled  up.  The 
cross  is  sharp.  The  cruel  disappointment  can  never  be 
soothed.  We  who  are  finite  are  clashing  swords  with 
Infinite  Power,  and  striking  at  and  wounding  ourselves  on 
the  thick  bosses  of  Jehovah's  buckler.  Be  still,  my  soul, 
and  wait  thou  only  upon  the  Lord.  If  thou  knowest  Him, 
thou  perhaps  wilt  find,  notwithstanding  all  thy  fears,  that — 

"  His  most  holy  name  is  Love, 
Truth  of  subUming  import  !  with  the  which 
Who  feeds  and  saturates  his  constant  soul, 
He  from  his  small  particular  orbit  flies 
With  blest  outstarting  !     From  himself  he  flies, 
vStands  in  the  sun,  and  with  no  partial  gaze 
Views  all  creation  :  and  he  loves  it  all 
And  blesses  it,  and  calls  it  very  good  ! 
This  is,  indeed,  to  dwell  with  the  INIost  High  1 
Cherubs  and  rapture-trembling  Seraphim 
Can  press  no  nearer  to  the  Almighty's  Throne." 

Such  peace  springs  from  the  absolute  submission  and 


WAITING   UPON    THE   LORD.  171 

perfect  quiet  of  the  soul.  Thought  dies  into  enjoyment. 
Desire  is  lost  in  ecstasy.  Self-obliteration  is  complete. 
The  mightiest  Love  has  won  the  victory.  The  soul  is 
loved  sublimely,  and  entirely  loves — whether  in  the  body  or 
out  of  the  body,  it  knows  not ; — 

"  Rapt  inlo  still  communion  which  transcends 
The  imperfect  offices  of  prayers  and  praise, 
The  mind  is  a  thanksgiving  to  the  Power 
AYhich  made  it.     It  is  blessedness  and  love." 

Yet  it  must  be  admitted  that  quietism  and  stillness 
cannot  cover  the  whole  of  our  experience.  Some  thinkers 
make  it  the  consummation  of  the  religious  life,  and  consider 
that  to  lose  ourselves  finally  in  God  is  the  goal  of  all  our 
striving,  the  heaven  of  all  our  faith.  Such  a  treatment  of  it, 
however,  savours  more  of  the  Oriental  nirvana  than  of  the 
Christian  life.  Quietism  closely  approaches  ''  absorption," 
i.e.  if  it  be  made  an  end  rather  than  a  means  to  an  end. 
To  reach  it,  the  soul  must  cease  to  hope  or  fear,  must 
school  itself  to  become  less  even  than  the  faintest  ruffle  on 
the  bosom  of  the  Infinite  ocean  of  being,  to  be  nothing,  to 
lose  even  the  power  to  know  its  own  blissfulness.  But  if 
the  stillness  or  silence  be  regarded  as  a  means  to  an  end, 
Avhat  is  it  but  another  name  for  full  reconciliation  with 
God  ?  Perfect  accord  with  the  Divine  majesty  and  mercy, 
such  as  is  brought  about  by  acquiescence  in  the  Divine 
reconcihation  with  us  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord, 
answers  our  yearning,  but  does  not  abolish  our  conscious- 
ness. God  knows  that  there  are  many  things  whereunto 
He  needs  in  His  perfect  wisdom  and  love  to  reconcile  us. 
We  become  conscious  of  a  damaged  nature,  and  a  rebellious 
heart  and  strange  desires.  Moreover,  an  unknown  destiny 
haunts  us.     The  wages  of  sin  impend.     We  finish  nothing, 


172  WAITING   UPON   THE   LORD. 

we  achieve  little,  and  our  life  is  like  a  broken  column  and 
a  smoking  torch,  and  a  cruel  disappointment.  He  is 
Himself  reconciled  to  us  in  the  death  of  His  Son,  and  He 
reconciles  us  to  Himself  under  these  strange  conditions  by 
the  same  mysterious  awful  fact.  We  appropriate  the  death 
of  the  second  Adam,  as  we  had  previously  realized  as  ours 
the  sin  and  death  of  the  first  Adam.  As  in  Adam  all  die, 
so  in  the  dying  of  One  for  all,  all  died  ;  and  this  death  once 
realized  is  life  and  peace.  We  leave  all  then  to  God,  and 
this  is  the  earliest  stage  of  the  Divine  reconciliation,  and  our 
souls  are  still.  The  little  child  can  thus  rest  in  the  love  of 
Jesus,  the  beginner  in  the  Divine  life  knows  the  secret. 

2.  But  this  is  not  the  whole  idea  of  "  waiting  upon  the 
Lord,"  for  over  the  silently  waiting  spirit  comes  the  breath 
of  hope.  It  is  reconciled,  but  it  searches  the  meaning  and 
end  of  its  own  reconciliation.  The  silence  prepares  to 
break  forth  into  song.  That  human  friendship  is  very 
deep  indeed  when  twin  souls  are  utterly  quiet  in  one 
another's  presence,  when  they  can  meet  and  part  without 
a  word,  and  yet  the  friendship  grow  and  the  love  deepen. 
But  such  love  as  this  always  holds  a  future  in  its  grasp. 
Sacred  stillnesses  inwardly  yearn  and  hope  for  mutual 
expression.  "  Still  communion  "  rises  up  into,  and  antici- 
pates hopefully  the  ends  of  such  fellow^ship.  Because  we 
are  reconciled  to  God  we  find  ourselves  in  the  stress  of  a 
new  contest.  Hope  is  born  in  the  breast  of  the  weaned 
child.  We  see  a  goal  to  be  pursued  and  an  end  to  be 
secured  beyond  the  simple  fact  of  our  reconciliation.  We 
find  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  a  plunging  onward  movement. 
What  seemed  like  siilbiess  is  the  equilibration  of  mighty 
forces,  is  the  balance  of  the  parts  of  our  nature  in  their 
rushing  race.     The  reconciliation  reveals  other  forces  and 


WAITING    UPON    THE   LORD.  1 73 

adverse  ones,  principalities  and  powers  which  must  be 
subdued  under  us,  which  are  against  us,  but  which  we  must 
more  than  conquer— nay,  which  we  must  transform  into  our 
allies.  Being  reconciled  by  the  death  of  the  Son  of  God, 
much  more  we  are  to  be  saved  by  His  life.  We  are  saved 
by  cherishing  a  sacred  desire.  What  we  see,  we  do  not 
hope  for.  But  many  things  are  invisible.  We  gaze  still 
through  a  glass  darkly ;  and  we  hope  on  and  look  upwards. 
So  it  comes  to  pass  that  much  which  Holy  Scripture 
describes  as  waiting  upon  God,  is  a  Divine  longing.  *'  My 
soul  waiteth  even  in  the  depths,  waiteth  for  the  Lord  more 
than  they  who  watch  for  the  morning."  God  gives  us  these 
desires  after  Himself.  They  are  the  prophecies  of  the 
fulness  of  His  love.  They  are  the  veritable  prayers  of  His 
elect  who  cry  day  and  night  unto  Him.  We  have  known 
something  of  resting  in  the  Lord  and  waiting  patiently  and 
silently  for  Him,  with  wonder  and  with  holy  fear,  but  from 
this  point  we  have  gone  forward,  not  backward,  when  we 
have  proceeded  to  cry  aloud  unto  God  our  strength,  and  to 
desire  at  least  one  thing,  that  we  may  not  merely  lie  passive 
in  His  hands,  but  that  we  may  see  His  fair  beauty  and  drink 
of  the  river  of  His  pleasure. 

Nor  (3)  is  this  blending  of  silence  and  desire  all  that  the 
saints  of  Holy  Scripture  have  meant  by  "waiting  upon  the 
Lord."  Another  word  is  used  by  prophets  which  couples 
with  desire  an  earnest  p:xpectation.  To  the  simple  idea 
of  holy  longing,  St.  Paul  too  binds  another,  viz.  that  of 
eager  and  strained  anticipation.  He  sees  the  Christian 
athlete  a-tiptoe,  with  an  all  but  realized  yearning  for  the 
crown,  or  bending  forward  with  the  eye  on  the  goal,  and 
the  hand  stretched  forth  to  grasp  the  prize,  not  only  with 
Strong  desire,  but  with  full  assurance  of  faith. 


174  WAITING   UPON    THE   LORD. 

We  may  easily  confound  the  higher  and  the  lower,  and 
invert  the  order  of  their  excellency.  Absolute  quietude,  a 
full  reconciliation  which  desires  nothing  and  hopes  for 
nothing,  and  a  satisfaction  that  does  not  even  seek  to 
respond  to  the  Divine  goodness,  falls  short  of  this  full 
assurance.  Verily,  the  beatific  vision  is  more  than  a  rest 
Avhich  scarcely  knows  that  it  sees,  or  is.  The  somnolences 
of  some  high-flown  experience  soon  reveal  the  indolence  of 
half-hearted  reconciliation.  Moreover,  the  heart  that  is 
being  disciplined  by  the  highest  vision  and  the  stoutest 
expectation  is  most  alive  to  the  work  of  God  in  the  world 
of  men. 

Those  who  drink  of  the  river  of  the  Lord's  pleasure,  are 
already  powerfully  expecting  this  triumph  over  all  that 
disfigures  His  kingdom.  Noble  work  is  done  by  those 
who  know  that  God's  love  to  the  world  cannot  be  a  failure. 
Because  they  see^  they  toil.  Because  they  expect  great 
things />-(?;;/  God,  they  do  great  things/£7;'God.  Disappoint- 
ment, dark  clouds,  angry  storms  of  human  hate  ;  nakedness, 
peril,  and  sword,  are  powerless  to  crush  those  who  are 
persuaded  that  nothing  can  separate  them  from  the  love 
of  God.  The  despairing  pessimism  of  our  day  is  the  child 
of  agnosticism,  is  the  cloud  which  rolls  up  from  the  "  sunless 
gulfs  of  doubt."  Those  who  wait  upon  the  Lord  are  not 
dismayed  by  the  past  history,  nor  confounded  by  the  present 
condition  of  the  world.  They  are  ever  blending  joy  -with 
sorrow.  They  "glory  in  tribulations  also,  knowing  that 
tribulation  works  out  patience,  and  patience  experience,  and 
experience  hope,  a  hope  which  will  not  put  them  to  shame 
because  the  love  of  God  is  shed  abroad  in  their  hearts  by 
the  Holy  Ghost  given  to  them." 

It  becomes,  then,  a  comparatively  easy  task  to  under- 


WAITING   UPON    THE   LORD.  1/5 

Stand  how  "  they  who  wait  upon  the  Lord,"  in  these  three 
senses  "renew  their  strength." 

(i.)  Silent  waiting  upon  the  Lord,  absoKite  resting  in 
God  and  full  reconciliation  with  tlie  Father  become  a 
renewal  of  strength.  Let  us  at  the  foot  of  the  cross  of 
Christ  cast  ourselves  utterly  upon  God's  strength,  upon 
the  imperishable  foundations  of  His  throne,  upon  His 
own  sublimest  characteristics,  upon  God  Himself  at  His 
greatest  and  best,  and  we  shall  find  that  He  confers  even 
upon  us  the  stability  of  His  own  Being,  the  sufficiency  of 
His  own  righteousness.  This  is  a  process  which  may  be 
reviewed,  reconsidered,  and  done  over  and  over  again,  so 
that  we  may  prove,  time  after  time,  how  strong  is  our 
resting-place.  The  Divine  life  is  a  continuous  renewal  of 
relations  with  God.  The  living  plant,  from  the  very 
beginning,  continually  puts  on  fresh  forms,  new  shapes  of 
beauty.  From  sun  and  air  and  earth,  the  life  draws  its 
sustenance.  It  rests,  but  renews  itself  day  by  day.  So  the 
most  entire  acquiescence  and  submission  to  the  Divine 
will,  produces  continually  a  new  form,  a  new  flower,  a  new 
fruit  of  grace,  till  the  purpose  of  the  Father  is  fulfilled. 

(ii.)  The  hopeful  waiting  upon  the  Lord  shows  that  the 
new  desires  of  the  reconciled  spirit  correspond  with  the 
purposes  of  God.  In  other  words,  prayer  is  answered. 
These  yearnings  of  the  spiritual  creation  are  a  "  renewal  of 
strength."  Their  travailing  in  pain  and  their  groanings 
over  the  bondage  of  the  whole  creation  are  not  pessimistic 
nor  despairing ;  they  are  Christ's  own  tears  and  travail  in 
the  members  of  which  He  is  the  Head,  and  thus  they 
become  vehement  and  sacred  desires  for  the  manifestation 
of  the  sons  of  God.  ''  In  this  tabernacle  we  are  burdened, 
earnestly  desiring  to  be  clothed  upon  with  our  house  which 


176  WAITING   UPON   THE  LORD. 

is  from  heaven."  Such  counting  on  *' the  unseen  and 
eternal,"  such  looking  for  the  glory  of  God,  is  a  daily 
renewal  of  the  "  strength  "  to  do  this  thing,  and  works  out 
"  the  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory." 

In  like  manner  (iii.)  the  expectant  waiting,  which  pierces 
and  lifts  the  veil  of  the  future,  verily  triumphs  over 
obstacles,  works  while  it  is  day,  and  even  at  the  midnight 
has  its  lamp  burning  and  its  loins  girt  for  battle  or  for 
pilgrimage,  or  for  entrance  with  the  Bridegroom  to  the 
marriage  festival  of  heaven  and  earth.  This  strong 
expectant  waiting  seems  to  offer  a  much  higher  conception 
of  the  consummation  of  our  life  than  an  eternal  stillness 
does.  The  difference  between  our  finite  knowledge  and 
the  infinite  fulness  of  reality  in  God  suggests  eternal 
progress — not  the  exhaustion  and  completion  of  effort,  not 
the  dead  monotonous  levels  of  even  the  loftiest  character, 
but  a  perpetual  renewal  of  strength. 

The  text  suggests  an  apparent  anti-climax  in  the 
imagery  employed  by  the  prophet.  First,  he  spake  of 
soaring  like  the  eagle,  then  of  coursing  like  the  athlete, 
and,  finally,  of  walking  steadily  along  life's  common  way. 
Is  this  a  climax  or  a  bathos  ?  I  am  inclined  to  think  that 
Isaiah  knew  perfectly  that  the  floating  and  soaring  of  the 
great  eagle  over  the  desert  waste  or  mountain-top  was,  after 
all,  though  a  lofty  and  blessed  image  of  renewal  of  strength, 
not  the  highest.  It  represents  a  rapture,  if  you  will ;  it  is 
the  image  of  one  who  can  gaze  undazzled  on  the  sun.  Yet 
the  eagle  cannot  outsoar  the  atmosphere  of  earth  by  which 
it  is  sustained.  Though  it  rises  high,  the  chamoix  and  the 
chamoix  hunter,  too,  may  climb  as  far.  The  eagle  soars, 
but  with  an  eye  on  his  prey.  He  hovers  in  almost  awful 
stillness  that  he  may  drop  plumb-down  out  of  the  azure  to 


WAITING    UPON   THE   LORD.  177 

the  quarry  that  his  eye,  imblenched  by  the  unveiled  sun, 
has  the  more  keenly  perceived.  So  it  comes  to  pass  that 
raptures  of  reconciliation  and  high  upliftings  of  the  soul  do 
not  always  portend  the  fulness  and  completeness  of  joy, 
and  the  continuous  renewal  of  strength.  All  through  the 
history  of  the  Divine  life  it  is  the  same.  Great  is  the 
power  of  patient,  silent  waiting  for  the  slow  ''grinding  of 
the  mills  of  God."  Wonderful  is  the  peace  which  passes  all 
understanding,  when  we  can  lift  ourselves  above  the  world, 
and  scarcely  sympathize  with  the  sorrows  of  the  race  to 
which  we  belong,  and  are  insensible  to  the  stings  and 
smarts  and  losses  of  this  earthly  life,  having  blown  out  the 
fires  of  anger  and  desire — yet  the  soaring  on  the  wing  of 
eagle  or  dove  may  not  be  the  noblest  victory.  This  was 
not  the  highest  life  of  all.  Isaiah  himself  had  raptures,  so 
had  Balaam  and  Micaiah  and  Eliphaz.  Some  moments  of 
sacred  vision  and  hearing  of  unspeakable  things  were 
granted  to  Paul  and  John,  and  on  the  Mount  of  Trans- 
figuration the  Holy  One  was  lifted  up  above  the  world  of 
opposition  into  that  of  Divine  love — yet  that  mountain 
height  was  not  the  goal  of  the  life  of  Jesus.  In  every  case 
the  floating  of  the  soul  out  into  the  empyrean  of  imagination 
and  holy  rapture  were  means  to  an  end,  7iot  in  itself  the 
highest  kind  of  life. 

The  7'imfwig  of  the  race  to  a  visible  goal  ivlthout  weari- 
ness may  be  a  higher  expression  of  the  life  that  we  ought 
to  live.  Hopeful  waiting  upon  the  Lord  is  more  than  a 
placid,  patient,  uninquisitive  peace.  Tiie  prophetic  image 
suggests  no  rapturous  escape  from  trouble,  but  a  steady  grasp 
of  duty  and  pursuit  of  ends  dear  to  God  arid  man.  It  is 
the  Old  Testament  anticipation  of  the  apostolic  summons  : 
"  Let  us  run  the  race  that  is  set  before  us,  looking  to  Jesus." 

N — 6 


178  WAITING    UPON    THE   LORD. 

If  we  can  run  without  weariness,  more  than  human 
strength  has  been  supplied  to  us.  Hopefulness  has  stirred 
our  peacefulness  to  higher  consciousness.  The  waiting 
upon  the  Lord,  which  encourages  us  to  rush  onward  along 
the  paths  and  sorrows  of  life,  in  sympathy  with  men  and 
with  the  end  in  view,  seems  more  noble  than  rushing  out 
of  the  world,  and  more  akin  with  the  life  of  Jesus,  and  with 
all  the  other  ways  of  the  Lord  God  Almighty.  If  we 
admit  that  the  sons  of  Benedict  and  Dominic  mounted  on 
wings,  the  brethren  of  the  Lord  Jesus  have  renewed  their 
strength  with  the  hope  and  joy  set  before  them,  and  so 
have  endured  the  cross,  despised  the  shame,  and  have  set 
themselves  down  with  Him  upon  His  throne. 

But,  finally,  must  it  not  be  freely  conceded  that  the 
last  clause  of  the  prophetic  image  falls  short  of  the  first 
exhibition  of  the  renewal  of  strength  1  It  matters  compara- 
tively little  whether  it  be  correct  or  otherwise  in  rhetoric, 
yet  for  my  part  I  cannot  doubt  that  a  steady  onward 
plodding  in  a  narrow  path  which  winds  and  zigzags  up  a 
storm-cleft  height ;  that  a  dutiful  i)rogress  on  a  well-marked 
road,  which,  by  monotonous  levels,  hides  equally  all  the 
really  distant  past  or  future ;  that  a  march  on — on — 
onwards,  though  the  sky  be  dull,  the  fog  around  the  soul, 
and  no  clear  vision  of  the  goal  opening  to  the  eye,  accom- 
panied nevertheless  by  an  inward  hopefulness  and  strong 
anticipation,  is,  if  done  without  succumbing  to  the  tre- 
mendous strain,  in  the  poet-prophet's  soul  the  highest  fonn 
of  strength  drawn  straight  from  the  Lord  God  Himself.  Of 
this,  too,  we  feel  assured  that  he  who  does  outwardly  press 
without  discouragement  along  the  pathway  with  an  eager 
desire  and  expectation  that  Christ  may  be  magnified  in 
him,  whether  by  life  or  death,  may  a  little  later  in  his  path- 


WAITING   UPON    THE   LORD.  1 79 

way  sec  the  goal  itself,  and  cry,  ''  Henceforth  there  is  laid 
up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness  that  fadeth  not  away." 
Such  renewal  of  strength  may  do  more  for  him  still,  for  the 
time  will  come  when  St.  Paul,  having  finished  his  course, 
having  kept  the  faith,  mounts  on  something  stronger  than 
an  eagle's  pinions.  He  veritably  outsoars  the  atmosphere 
of  earth.  Eyes  are  given  him  strong  enough  to  gaze 
without  tears  or  fears  on  the  unveiled  face  of  the  Father. 
He  sees  the  regalia,  the  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the 
Lord,  the  Righteous  Judge,  will  give  to  him,  and  not  to 
him  only,  but  also  to  all  those  who  love  His  appearing. 


CONSECRATION     OF     HEARTS 
AND     THINGS. 


Address  preceding  tlie  cclcbraiioii  of  I  he  Holy  Com  lu  union,  at  t/ie  opening 
of  Mansfield  College,  Oxford,  October  iz„  1SS9. 


CONSECRATION     OF     HEARTS 
AND   THINGS. 

The  symbols  of  the  broken  body  and  shed  blood  of  the 
incarnate  Son  of  God  always  express  for  us  our  unutterable 
need  and  the  fathomless  depth  of  the  righteousness  and 
love  of  God.  They  have  inexhaustible  resources  of 
suggestion.  As  the  centuries  move  on  with  all  their  weight 
of  mystery,  of  memory,  and  high  endeavour,  they  mean  more 
and  more  to  us.  Under  their  inspiration,  men  like  our- 
selves have  lifted  up  their  hearts  unto  the  Lord,  and  "  with 
angels  and  archangels  and  all  the  company  of  heaven" 
have  lauded  and  magnified  the  thrice  holy  Name.  The 
sense  of  utter  unworthiness  has  been  rescued  from  undue 
dejection  by  the  promise  of  a  free  pardon  and  the 
stirrings  of  a  new  and  sacrificial  life.  The  keen  bliss  of 
human  love  is  sharpened  by  these  memories  of  a  love 
stronger  than  death.  The  shadows  of  the  tomb  are 
dissolved  in  the  light  ever  gleaming  from  the  Cross,  or 
rather  from  the  face  of  Him  who  was  dead  but  is  alive  for 
evermore. 

Enterprises  of  "great  pith  and  moment  "  are  only  safely 
entered  upon  when,  as  at  this  service,  we  can  realize  the 
mighty  presence  of  our  Lord,  and  when  we   dare   invoke 


184      CONSECRATION   OF   HEARTS  AND   THINGS. 

that,  which  is  the  perpetual  'prayer  and  the  constant  beati- 
tude of  the  Church.  When  our  fathers  in  the  wilderness 
finished  their  work  a  cloud  covered  the  tent  of  the  con- 
gregation, and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  filled  the  tabernacle, 
and  whensoever,  in  the  dead  of  night,  amid  the  recesses  of 
the  catacombs,  on  the  mountain  sides,  in  the  forests,  in  the 
dungeon  or  on  the  battlefield,  the  martyr-Church  of  many 
names  has  clasped  by  faith  inseparable  hands  with  all  who 
loved  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity,  the  cloud  of 
glory  has  been  seen  and  felt  "  a  shadow  by  day  and  a  fire 
by  night,  in  the  sight  of  all  the  Israel  of  God  throughout 
their  journeyings." 

An  enterprise  of  moment  to  the  Church  of  Christ  now 
reaches  consummation.  Numerous  services  of  consecra- 
tion have  been  solemnized  on  this  site  of  many  memories. 
Churches  and  colleges  thus  raised  have  embodied  strong 
tendencies  at  work  in  the  Church  and  State.  Their  signifi- 
cance to-day  is  proportioned  to  the  strength  of  those  ideas, 
to  the  loyalty  and  faithfulness  of  those  who  profess  them, 
and  to  the  intensity  with  which  living  men  can  realize  in 
conjunction  with  them  the  Divine  presence  and  approbation. 
In  a  similar  manner,  certain  potent  ideas  and  living  prin- 
ciples of  thought,  of  worship,  and  Divine  service  have  been 
already  crystallized  into  these  walls.  The  buildings  them- 
selves are  the  creation  of  much  personal  enthusiasm,  not 
only  of  worthy  and  learned  men,  but  of  poor  saints,  and 
they  represent  a  dominant  spiritual  idea  which  may  make 
another  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  Church  in  England. 
With  the  memory  of  the  dying  love,  with  the  fire  of  the 
living  presence  of  our  Lord,  we  hope  to  consecrate  this 
place  to  Him  and  to  His  glory. 

The  dedication  of  the  house  to  highest  uses  can  only 


CONSECRATION   OF   HEARTS   AND   THINGS.      1 85 

be  fully  consummated  by  a  conscious  self-consecration  to 
those  uses.  In  the  strength  of  a  deep  love  to  Him  who 
alone  confers  on  these  principles  and  on  these  uses  any 
value,  let  us  grasp  them  with  such  fervour  that  they  will 
become  more  to  us  than  our  own  life,  and  dearer  to  us  than 
we  are  either  to  ourselves  or  to  one  another.  They  will 
assuredly  live  and  work  in  the  higher  life  of  England — of  all 
the  Churches  of  England — when  we  have  all  passed  beyond 
the  need  of  symbols,  into  the  great  reality  where  we  shall 
see  Him  as  He  is. 

Those  are  thrice  blessed  whose  highest  aims  and 
whose  practical  services  coincide.  There  is,  however,  one 
fear,  one  peril  to  be  avoided  in  such  cases ;  our  lower 
motives,  our  proximate  ends,  have  about  them  a  certain 
overmastering  force,  a  kind  of  brute  strength  ;  a  species  of 
mechanical  energy  and  of  rare  glamour  withal,  which,  even 
while  they  are  bent  in  facilitating  means  of  consummate 
value  for  effecting  noble  ends,  condemn  us  often  to  rest 
satisfied  Avith  the  proximate  measures  and  to  substitute 
means  for  the  ends.  May  the  highest  ends  be  paramount 
to-day  ! 

The  immediate  purpose  which  is  obviously  enshrined  in 
these  buildings,  and  which  we  seek  to  effect  by  them,  is  a 
higher  training  of  the  ministers  of  our  free  Churches.  We 
desire  in  this  institution  to  transcend  that  Avhich  has 
hitherto  been  achieved.  We  wish  to  give  our  young  men 
a  larger  outlook  into  the  world  which  they  yearn  to  bless. 
Our  passionate  desire  is  that  they  may  know  the  best 
things  that  are  knowable ;  that  they  may  apprehend,  not  only 
the  needs  and  tendencies  of  their  own  clique  or  persuasion, 
but  the  conscientious  convictions  of  men  of  other  schools 
of  thought ;  that  they  may  drink  deep  draughts  of  know- 


1 86      CONSECRATION   OF   HEARTS   AND   THINGS. 

ledge;  that  they  may  sharpen  with  all  available  means 
their  appetite  for  truth  itself,  by  pursuing  with  enthusiasm 
some  of  the  specialities  of  their  great  theme.  We  desire 
that  they  may  learn  the  secrets  of  many  minds,  so  as  to 
unriddle  the  perplexities  of  some^  and  lift  off  the  incubus 
which  burdens  the  heart  and  conscience  of  others.  We 
have  so  much  confidence  In  the  reality  and  glory  of 
the  Christian  faith,  that  we  have  no  fear  of  the  result. 
Some  who  are  suffering  from  that  sensitiveness  whicli 
Schlelermacher  called  "the  phthisis  of  the  Intellect"  may 
have  to  endure  a  furnace  In  which  their  strength  will  be 
sorely  tried;  but  those  who  have  veritably  received  the 
Divine  life,  who  have  entered  consciously  into  the 
kingdom  of  God,  who  are  born  again  of  Incorruptible  seed 
by  the  Word  of  God  which  abideth  for  ever,  will  find  the 
mission  on  which  they  are  set  and  the  message  they  have 
to  deliver  revealed  to  them  anew  In  a  veritable  gleam  of 
light.  They  will  see  more  and  more  of  the  convergent 
forces  which,  with  unresting  progress,  are  unveiling  the 
King  of  kings  and  bringing  Into  view  the  destiny  and 
redemption  of  the  world  by  Jesus  Christ.  They  will  not 
lose  In  a  superficial  and  exhausted  mysticism  their  vision  of 
One  who  is  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life  of  men. 

Doubtless  these  are  days  of  transition,  when  some 
positions  once  held  most  certain  have  been  taken  from  us 
by  the  ever-continuous  wear  of  the  critical  wave.  More- 
over, some  modification  of  the  way  in  which  our  funda- 
mental truths  are  stated  may  be  found  imperative  ;  but  the 
Christian  faith  is  stronger  with  every  fresh  conclusion  of 
sanctified  IntelHgence.  There  have  been  many  such  crises 
in  the  history  of  the  Church  and  in  the  methods  of  Divine 
revelation,  and  God  has  not  yet  been  driven  from  His  own 


CONSECRATION   OF   HEARTS  AND   THINGS.      187 

temple,  nor  is  the  Christ  less  manifestly  real  in  His  power 
and  grace  than  He  ever  was.  Consequently  we  accept 
without  fear  an  inheritance  and  a  possibility  from  which 
the  sons  of  the  Puritans  were  long  debarred,  and  we  hail 
an  opportunity  to  bear  more  thoughtful  witness  than  ever 
to  that  which  is  to  us  the  primal  truth  of  the  bearing  of  the 
Incarnation  of  the  Word  upon  the  destiny  of  the  human  race. 
These  are  a  few  of  our  practical  aims  and  secondary 
motives.  However  numerous  and  noble  they  may  be,  they 
are  simply  the  means  in  our  hand  to  compass  a  sublimer 
end.  What  we  aim  at  is  something  entirely  beyond  any 
machinery,  any  party  triumph,  any  honour  that  we  can 
achieve  in  doing  what  is  in  itself  worthy  or  noble  :  it  is 
nothing  less  than  opening  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  to  all 
believers ;  it  is  the  revelation  of  the  Lord  Christ  to  the 
world  ;  it  is  the  saving  of  those  for  whom  Christ  died ;  it 
is  the  proclamation  of  His  gospel  to  the  world. 

The  meaning  of  our  communion  service  to-day  is  our 
fervent  desire  to  bring  the  ultimate  end  of  this  special 
endeavour  into  the  burning  focus  of  the  Divine  Presence. 
We  yearn  to  consume  in  this  baptism  of  fire  all  unworthy, 
all  insufficient  motive.  The  altar  is  built,  the  sacrifice  is 
laid  on  the  wood,  and  the  cry  of  our  hearts  is  that  the  fire 
from  heaven  may  descend.  We  know  that  one  flash  of 
light  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord  will  do  more  for  the 
realization  of  the  best  wishes  that  are  cherished  to-day  than 
could  any  conceivable  addition  to  our  resources,  or  any 
dazzling  augmentation  of  our  prestige. 

God  forbid  that,  as  we  take  these  symbols  of  an  infinite 
sacrifice,  we  should  be  inwardly  sighing  for  any  end  less 
than  the  glory  of  our  Lord  in  the  revelation  of  Himself  to 
the  world. 


1 88      CONSECRATION   OF  HEARTS  AND  THINGS. 

We  know  that  advantages  such  as  those  which  we  here 
provide  for  our  young  ministers  may  be  delusive ;  that  mere 
culture  of  intellect,  that  richer  and  fuller  education,  like 
the  oxen  and  sheep  in  the  courts  of  the  temple,  like  the 
tables  of  the  money-changers,  may  be  eminently  convenient 
to  a  Sadducean  priesthood,  or  attractive  to  a  secularized 
Church,  but  may  yet  perpetrate  a  profanation  in  the  view 
of  the  Lord  of  that  temple.  If  our  desire  is  only  to  gain 
pre-eminence  or  power  by  advanced  culture,  the  Master 
will  come  with  the  scourge  rather  than  with  the  approving 
smile,  and  His  terrible  voice  will  be  heard,  *'Take  these 
things  hence." 

We  have  a  holy  mission;  we  are  the  witnesses  to  a 
principle  of  consummate  preciousness,  the  guardians  of  a 
truth  concealed  from  many,  the  prophets  of  a  mystery 
which  has  been  hidden  from  many  generations.  If  the 
fellowship  of  this  mystery  should  pervade  the  Churches, 
then  the  consecration  of  these  buildings  will  be  an  event 
and  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  religious  thought.  Great 
movements  have  been  favoured,  persecuted,  and  finally 
triumphant  in  Oxford.  Lollardy  and  Puritanism,  en- 
thusiasm for  the  past,  strength  of  invincible  intuitions, 
vehemence  of  drastic  criticism,  passions  which  first  created 
and  then  burned  the  martyrs,  have,  in  succession,  swayed 
the  minds  of  men.  Here  arose,  too,  that  sense  of  the 
value  of  each  soul  of  man,  and  the  superb  hope  that  a  man 
alone  with  God  might  find  his  calling  and  election  sure. 
Here  the  Evangelical  Revival  found  for  a  time  scope  and 
impulse. 

During  the  last  fifty  years  a  more  notable  movement 
took  its  origin  in  Oxford,  one  which  has  deeply  affected 
all  contemporary  religious  life.      The  past  history  of  the 


CONSECRATION    OF   HEARTS   AND   THINGS.      1 89 

Church  of  England  has  been  re-written,  and  a  new  con- 
ception of  the  Church  as  a  whole  has  been  fathered  and 
fostered,  which  has  exerted  an  incalculable  force  on 
millions.  In  this  university  there  was  obtained  the  vision 
of  a  vast  catholic  organization,  which  embraced  in  itself 
the  whole  past  evolution  of  the  Church,  whether  Eastern 
or  Western,  Anglican  or  Oriental,  and  this,  notwithstanding 
irreconcilable  differences  between  them. 

It  is  true  that  these  sections  of  the  catholic  Church 
have  not  been  reciprocally  conscious  of  their  solidarity ; 
yet,  as  far  as  Anglicans  are  concerned,  learned  and  holy 
men  have  become  pathetically  alive  to  the  existence  of  a 
Body  visible  to  them  wathin  certain  restricted  lines  of 
historic  continuity  and  corresponding  organizations.  They 
have,  by  the  power  of  sanctified  imagination,  seen  the 
Divine  life  and  the  supernatural  order  in  certain  well- 
defined  regions,  and  have  cherished  the  hope,  and  cherish 
it  still,  that  all  Churches  must  at  last  blend  into  this  sacred 
unity  of  the  flock  and  fold  of  God.  But  is  this  the  last 
word  that  can  be  spoken  touching  the  unity  of  the  spiritual 
body  of  Christ  ?  May  we  not  cherish,  and  in  this  very 
service  of  reverence  and  love  express,  our  profound  con 
viction  that  the  great  Evangelical  movement  of  the  last 
century,  and  the  Anglo-Catholic  movement  of  this  century, 
are  co-operating  to  produce  a  greater  movement  than 
either?  It  is  not  impossible  that  even  we  may  have 
something  to  do  in  stimulating  its  progress  and  develop- 
ment. Should  it  once  move  forward  on  the  wings  of  faith 
and  love,  it  will  prove  the  most  potent  and  far-reaching  of 
all  the  great  upstirrings  of  mind  and  heart  which  have 
taken  their  origin  in  this  university.  Common  interest  in 
sacred  learning,  friendly  intercourse,  mutual  observation. 


190     CONSECRATION   OF    HEARTS   AND   THINGS. 

co-operation  in  common  pursuits,  will  be  its  coadjutors; 
but  the  sublime  motive  power  is  nothing  short  of  the  in- 
dwelling of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  all  sections  of  the  Church. 
Then,  by  a  new  and  irresistible  impulse,  they  shall  combine 
to  fulfil  the  prayer  of  the  Divine  Lord,  "  that  they  all  may 
be  one,  even  as  Thou,  Father,  art  in  Me  and  I  in  Thee, 
that  they  also  may  be  one  in  Us." 

If  the  unity  between  the  Father  and  the  Son  be  the 
test  and  the  norm  of  the  union  of  the  Church  for  which 
the  Saviour  prayed,  then  the  glory  and  the  exceeding 
blessedness  will  not  be  realized  in  form  of  words,  or  in 
unanimous  expression  of  thought.  No  consent  to  creeds 
or  definitions,  however  accurate  and  comprehensive  they 
may  be,  according  to  the  wisdom  of  to-day,  can  answer  the 
prayer  of  the  Christ.  No  vast  world-embracing  eccle- 
siastical order  can  ever  satisfy  the  conditions  of  the 
problem.  The  notion  of  a  universal  creed  and  of  a 
universal  monarchy  of  Christian  ministries  has  been  dis- 
possessed of  its  pre-eminence  by  the  inexorable  logic  of 
fLicts. 

But  in  the  mutual  and  common  realization  of  the  true 
body  of  Christ,  wherever  His  Holy  Spirit — the  Spirit  of  the 
Father  and  of  the  Son — puts  forth  Divine  life  in  the 
myriad-sided  organism  of  the  new  humanity,  it  will  fulfil 
the  glorious  prayer  of  the  blessed  Lord.  This  is  no  new 
phantasy.  It  is  the  oldest  of  all.  The  Divine  life,  the  new 
spiritual  Sonship  to  God,  is  a  fact ;  and  the  cry  from  the 
regenerated  soul,  from  the  adopted  child,  "  Abba,  Father, " 
indicates  and  creates  a  rccjl  brotherhood,  not  a  mere 
society.  The  elect  souls  in  every  Church  have  for  ages 
been  discovering  this  blessed  reality.  U/>i'  Christus  ibi 
ecdesia  has  been  the  sacred  talisman  by  which  many  cruel 


CONSECRATION   OF   HEARTS   AND   THINGS.      I91 

controversies  have  been  reconciled.  Noble  testimonies  to 
the  triumphant  principle  have  been  borne  by  men  whose 
life  has  sweetened  the  very  breath  of  the  world.  Our  own 
peculiarity  is  that  we  are  the  special  guardians  of  a  prin- 
ciple which  has  seemed  at  times  too  ethereal  to  live  as  a 
prominent  form  of  Church  life.  I  know  we  are  far  from 
fully  embodying  it  in  our  own  life ;  but  if  we  depart  from  it, 
we  utterly  fail  in  our  distinct  and  specific  mission.  Never- 
theless, when  the  hour  comes  that  the  vigorous  representa- 
tives of  what  are  called  free  Churches  can  see  the  kingdom 
of  God  in  all  its  other  manifestations,  whether  in  Rome  or 
Constantinople,  Geneva  or  Canterbury,  and  when  the  most 
spiritual,  devout,  and  conservative  members  of  the  historic 
Churches  can  recognize  and  act  upon  the  recognition  of 
the  Divine  life,  of  the  brotherhood  in  Christ,  of  the  super- 
natural order  beyond  the  pale  and  boundary  hitherto 
assigned ;  when  the  union  between  such  as  are  one  in 
Christ  becomes  a  mutual  indwelling  such  as  that  between 
the  Father  and  the  Son,  then  all  ivill  be  one  according  to  a 
higher  ideal  than  has  ever  yet  been  powerfully  embodied 
among  men.  The  Anglo-Catholic  conception  is  a  wonder- 
ful step  in  the  right  direction.  It  avails  to  overleap  the 
most  formidable  barriers  of  confession,  discipline,  and 
practice.  It  offers  its  sense  of  brotherhood,  moreover,  to 
those  who  do  not  reciprocate  the  sentiments,  nor  admit  its 
orders,  nor  give  back  the  kiss  of  peace ;  and  it  seems  to  us 
that  the  Church  principle  of  which  we  are  the  guardians 
does  but  carry  out  to  its  full  expression  a  similar  law  of  love. 
I  dare  to  hope  that  the  tiny  stream  which  bursts  to-day 
from  its  long-hidden  sources  here,  may  contribute  to  swell 
that  vast,  bright,  abounding  river  of  life,  by  the  banks  of 
which  the  historic  Churches  will  drink  deep  draughts,  and 


192      CONSECRATION    OF   HEARTS   AND   THINGS. 

which  will  most  assuredly  lave  the  walls  of  *'  the  city  built 
for  the  perfected  spirits  of  the  just." 

This  prophetic  conception  has  been  cheering  the  noblest 
spirits  in  all  the  Churches.  Wherever  life  has  been  more 
than  form,  and  the  spiritual  body  more  than  its  raiment, 
this  glowing  hope  has  burned  on  the  altar.  The  sacred  fire 
has  been  extinguished,  and  even  its  custodians  have  some- 
times smothered  it  in  their  eagerness  to  add  fuel  to  the 
flame  ;  nevertheless,  it  is  fast  becoming  a  world-wide  illu- 
mination. This  enterprise  of  ours  is  but  one  involuntary 
expression  of  a  vast  force  of  sanctified  judgment,  without 
which  our  present  action  would  have  been  impossible,  and 
it  bids  fair  to  transcend  the  conception  of  Wicliff  and  of 
Cranmer,  the  burning  breath  of  Wesley,  the  far-reaching 
ideal  of  Newman  and  Pusey,  and  will  be,  in  fact,  the 
supplement  and  the  complement  and  eventually  the  realiza- 
tion and  the  co-operation  of  them  all. 

i\t  present  we  have  only  a  faint  adumbration  of  what  a 
full  Pentecostal  efi'usion  of  the  Holy  Spirit  must  achieve. 
The  spiritual  temple  rises  in  the  midst  of  much  debate. 

"  O  God,  Thy  architecture  meets  with  sin, 
For  all  Thy  fame  and  fabric  is  within. 
There  Thou  art  struggling  with  a  peevish  heart, 

Which  sometimes  crosses  Thee,  Thou  sometimes  it ; 
The  fight  is  hard  on  either  part ; 

Great  God  doth  fight,  He  doth  submit. 
All  Solomon's  sea  of  brass  and  world  of  stone 
Is  not  so  dear  to  Thee  as  one  good  groan. 
And  truly  brass  and  stones  are  heavy  things, 

Tombs  for  the  dead,  not  temples  fit  for  Thee, 
But  groans  are  quick  and  full  of  wings  ; 

And  all  their  motions  upward  be  ; 
And,  ever  as  they  mount,  like  larks  they  sing : 
The  note  is  sad,  yet  music  for  a  king." 

''The  earnest   expectation  of  the  creation  waiteth  for 


CONSECRATION    OF   HEARTS   AND   THINGS.      193 

the  revelation  of  the  sons  of  God."  At  present  they  are 
not  fully  revealed  ;  not  yet  can  they  even  see  each  other : 
but  as  the  mutual  glances  are  interchanged  a  new  meaning 
will  be  given  to  sacraments  and  orders ;  a  fresh  set  of 
facts  will  be  supplied  to  agnostic  historians  and  philoso- 
phers; the  souls  of  the  martyrs  will  live  again ;  intolerance 
will  die  in  the  new  atmosphere  that  circles  round  the  earth ; 
criticism,  however  eager,  will  forget  to  sneer,  and  the 
world  will  believe,  as  it  has  never  yet  done,  in  the  presence 
of  the  Christ  who  liveth  for  ever  and  ever.  When  this 
flood  of  life  overflows  the  ramparts  which  divide  us,  they 
will  in  these  great  waters  be  only  rocky  islets  in  a  boundless 
sea. 

Let  us  draw  near,  then,  to  the  symbols  of  a  perfect  love  ; 
let  us  hail  the  signal  that  the  Uving  Christ  who  died  for 
our  sins  is  in  the  midst  of  us.  The  special  glory  that 
beams  from  the  cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  on  hearts 
broken  by  a  sense  of  sin,  shame,  and  peril,  is  so  dazzling 
that  such  cannot  fail  to  see  when  they  turn  thence — as  turn 
they  must,  to  daily  duty  and  to  absorbing  affairs  of  the 
world  and  of  the  Church— the  spectrum  of  that  Christ  still 
in  their  field  of  view.  It  is  strange,  but  most  blessed,  to 
find  that,  instead  of  confusing  their  mental  picture  of  other 
things,  that  spectrum  harmonizes  wifli  and  explains  them  all. 

We  turn  with  deepest  reverence  once  more  to  Him 
the  symbols  of  whose  living  and  dying  and  resurrection  are 
renewed  and  spread  before  us.  We  humbly  seek  to  use 
them  now  as  records  of  all  the  mighty  history  of  the 
kingdom  of  God,  as  significant  tokens  of  all  that  our  Lord 
has  done  for  us  and  would  have  us  do,  the  absolution  and 
remission  of  all  our  sins,  and  the  gift  of  eternal  life.  We 
desire  to  lose  ourselves  once  more  in  Him.     Bought  by  His 

0—6 


194      COxVSECRATION   OF   HEARTS   AND   THINGS. 

precious  blood,  we  desire  to  blend  our  bitterest  sorrow  for 
sin,  our  uttermost  shame  at  the  sins  of  even  our  hoHest 
service,  with  our  eucharistic  shout  of  adoring  gratitude. 
We  dare  to  believe  that  He  has  taken  upon  Himself  the 
responsibiUty  and  task  of  our  full  redemption,  and  that  He 
is  able  to  accomplish  it.  We,  being  many,  are  one  loaf, 
seeing  that  we  are  partakers  of  the  one  bread,  and  we  enter 
afresh  into  the  unity  of  the  spiritual  body  of  Christ.  We 
are  seated  at  a  table  where  the  apostles,  prophets,  martyrs, 
saints  and  confessors  of  every  age  are  feasting  still.  We 
join  with  the  Fathers  of  the  Early  Church,  and  with  many 
who  were  cast  out  as  evil  thinkers  and  wrong-doers, 
with  Reformers  and  Puritans,  and  with  those  who  swore 
Holy  League  and  Covenant  in  their  blood,  and  we  know 
we  are  one  in  Him.  We  are  creating  no  new  society,  but 
realizing  the  fact  of  a  brotherhood  created  by  the  Holy 
Ghost.  We  are  not  inaugurating  but  claiming  a  fellowship 
with  all  who  love  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity. 


'MINISTERS  THROUGH    WHOM 
YE   BELIEVED." 


Address  preceding  the  celebration  of  the  Holy  Communion^  at  ChesJiunt 
College  Chapel,  at  the  fori7iation  of  the  Cheshnnt  Union  of  Fon7ier 
Students,  January  1 6,  1888. 


"MINISTERS    THROUGH 
WHOM  YE  BELIEVED." 

"What  then  is  Apollos?  and  what  is  Paul?      Ministers   through 
whom  ye  believed  ;  and  each  as  the  Lord  gave  to  him." — I  COR.  iii.  5. 

This  moment  is  unique  in  the  history  of  the  college. 
Many  dates  are  red-lettered  in  its  calendar.  Hours  of  deep 
impression  have  come  and  gone.  Of  its  father,  the  friend 
of  its  foundress,  it  may  be  said,  as  was  sung  of  Dante, — 

"  From  land  to  land, 
Like  flame  within  the  naked  hand, 
His  body  bore  his  burning  heart." 

Missionaries,  scholars,  preachers,  pastors,  cjuiet  labourers 
for  God's  truth  have  caught  some  of  their  earliest  inspira- 
tions from  its  sacred  memories.  In  lonely  places,  in  distant 
regions,  its  freemasonic  token  has  been  of  service.  A 
goor'ly  number  of  brave  workers  for  Christ  have  often  been 
stirred  to  better  service  by  realizing  their  Cheshunt  brother- 
hood. Not  a  few  of  your  comrades  have  joined  the  com- 
pany of  the  perfect  ones  within  the  veil,  and  will  not  have 
altogether  forgotten  us.  They  are  not  far  away  from  us 
to-night,  when,  for  the  first  time  in  our  history  of  a  hundred 


igS    "MINISTERS    THROUGH   WHOM    YE    BELIEVED." 

and  twenty  years,  a  serious  effort  has  been  made  to  combine 
and  exchange  our  manifold  emotions,  to  give  zest  to  present 
duties  by  renewing  our  early  consecration.  The  vinculum 
that  has  held  you  together  has  been  very  elastic,  apparently 
fine  as  a  gossamer  thread,  and  yet  it  has  been  strong  enough 
— I  hardly  know  how  or  why,  save  that  the  Lord  has  willed 
it — to  draw  you  together  and  induce  you  to  revisit  Ches- 
hunt  as  a  sacred  place.  The  special  charm  is,  that  you 
have  not  gathered  to  hear  some  famous  preacher  or  illustrious 
chairman,  nor  to  inaugurate  a  new  constitution,  nor  to 
contest  some  principle  that  you  have  felt  to  be  endangered ; 
not  for  mutual  admiration,  nor  for  the  honour  and  prestige 
of  our  college,  but  simply  for  the  glory  of  God,  out  of  love 
to  one  another,  and  faith  in  one  another's  power,  by  His 
grace  to  kindle  a  new  enthusiasm  aiid  loyalty  for  Christ  and 
His  kingdom. 

Some  explanation  may  be  found  in  this,  that  here  was 
the  *'  birthplace  of  deep  love  "  and  much  sacred  friend- 
ship, and  if  Cheshunt  were  not  the  cradle  of  your  Divine  life, 
yet  it  was  the  spot  where  that  supernatural  life  touched 
maturity,  where,  after  much  questioning  and  many  prayers, 
you  began  in  a  deep  sense  consciously  to  /^e,  to  enter  on  '•  the 
eternal  now."  Here  many  of  you  came  into  more  intelligent 
communion  with  apostles  and  prophets,  and  so  to  climb 
"the  altar-stairs,"  until  you  found  deeper  fellowship  with  the 
Father,  and  with  His  Son,  Jesus  Christ.  Did  you  not  here 
do  battle  with  the  seven  deadly  sins  ?  Was  not  self-conceit 
smitten  ?  Did  not  self-control  and  self  sacrifice  take  the 
place  of  wilful  self-pleasing?  Did  not  the  healing  of  pardon 
and  of  discipline  follow  the  assurance  of  faith  ?  Perhaps 
here  the  one  tremendous  chance  of  life  loomed  for  the  first 


"MINISTERS   THROUGH    WHOM   YE   BELIEVED."    I99 

time  like  a  vast  comet  on  your  midnight  sky,  and  Truth, 
veiled  but  beautiful,  invested  with  much  drapery,  but  living 
— no  mummied  corpse  of  dead  men's  thoughts,  but  the 
veritable  thought  of  the  Eternal,  perfect  and  peerless, — here 
dared  you  to  look  on  her  face  and  live.  Here  you  began 
to  understand  the  terms  which  you  had  used  from  earlier 
days.  Many  a  religious  phrase  which  had  erewhile  been  only 
a  blank  cheque  was  consumed  to  ashes ;  but  some  of  these 
blank  cheques  were  signed  by  God,  and  countersigned  by 
your  own  conscience,  and  were  thenceforward  transformed 
into  boundless  wealth. 

Having  once  beholden  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of 
Jesus  Christ,  you  begin  to  wonder  at  the  sang  froid  with 
which  otiose  assent  was  readily  given  to  the  very  same 
ideas  which,  when  you  discovered  them,  shook  your  whole 
being  to  its  centre.  Flattering  dreams  of  being  able  to 
compel  men  to  see  and  feel  with  you,  led  you  on.  Bitter 
disappointments  were  soothed  by  gracious  illusions,  and  the 
sympathy  of  brothers  beloved.  In  many  a  sacred  corner 
of  the  college,  coteries  have  solved  the  problems  of  the  ages. 
The  puzzles  of  metaphysics  vanished.  Theories  of  evil  and 
of  death,  of  atonement  and  life,  the  claims  of  Rome  and 
Westminster,  of  Tubingen  and  Halle,  have  been  settled  out 
of  hand,  to  say  nothing  of  ecclesiastical  affairs  that  were 
nearer  home. 

How  we  smile  in  after  days,  not  cynically,  but  sweetly, 
on  our  sanguine  hopes  and  the  infalHbilities  of  our  boy- 
hood !  I  do  not  wonder,  then,  that  you  should  have 
anticipated  some  pleasure,  perhaps  not  unmixed  with  pain, 
when  asked  to  come  and  take  a  bath  in  the  fountain  of 
sunrise,   to  resume  with  manhood's   strength  some  of  the 


200   "MINISTERS   THROUGH   WHOM   YE   BELIEVED." 

glances  of  the  infancy  of  your  higher  intellectual  and  moral 
life,  to  gather  round  the  cross  of  Christ,  to  cherish  a 
new  hopefulness,  to  become  more  conscious  of  your  calling 
of  God  and  your  mission  in  the  world,  and  to  renew  the 
testimony  you  have  to  give  to  spiritual  reality,  alike  in 
theological  thought,  in  Church  principles,  in  Christian  life, 
and  in  holy  enterprise. 

Many  of  you  can  gratefully  record  years  of  service. 
You  have  wielded  pen  and  pencil  and  pilgrim  staff.  In 
the  pulpit,  on  the  platform,  in  the  professor's  chair,  in  the 
direction  of  great  institutions,  in  the  guidance  of  political 
opinion,  in  hand-to-hand  encounter  with  idolatry,  intem- 
perance, poverty,  and  sin,  you  have  been  fulfilling  your 
course ;  yet  there  is  not  one  of  us  who  does  not  with  a  sigh 
confess  that  the  service  he  has  rendered  has  fallen  far  below 
the  ideal  that  once  rose  enchantingly  before  him.  We  all 
acknowledge  the  intrusion  of  selfish  consideration,  the  close 
proximity  of  unhealthy  dispositions  and  morbid  desires. 
Much  of  our  ministerial  life  has  resembled  the  "  green  ear  " 
of  the  parable,  rather  than  the  fruit  which  it  promised  but 
failed  to  realize. 

The  tares  which  confuse,  the  thorns  which  choke  the 
heavenly  life  have  not  been  wanting.  For  one,  physical 
weakness  or  shattered  strength ;  for  another,  cruel  domestic 
sorrow  has  impeded  work.  Some  have  had  to  mourn  over 
the  rivalry  of  sects  and  the  feverish  vitality  which  pulses  in 
all  our  organization ;  others  have  shrunk  dispirited  from  the 
higher  attractions  which  the  world  in  many  forms  presses  on 
those  whom  they  most  wish  to  influence.  Some  of  us  have 
had  to  suffer  occasional  paralysis  from  straitened  resources, 
or  from  the  awkwardness  of  temper,  or  the  grumbling  of 


"iMINISTERS   THROUGH   WHOM    YE    BELIEVED."   201 

our  fellow-workers.  Our  excellent  friends  are  often  loud 
in  their  appreciation  of  some  ideas  suggested  by  a  stranger, 
which  we  had  been  vainly  striving  to  hammer  into  them  by 
long  courses  of  instruction. 

Perhaps  we  have  all  at  times  felt  awestruck  with  the 
problems  which  have  perpetually  come  to  the  front,  and 
have  been  more  or  less  bewildered  by  the  acute  crises  that 
have  followed  one  another  in  the  world  of  thought.  We 
dare  not  deny  that  at  times  the  solid  earth  has  seemed  to 
tremble  under  our  feet.  Even  the  kingdom  of  God,  that 
cannot  be  shaken,  has  appeared,  as  we  received  it,  to  quiver 
and  reel.  In  our  present  retrospect  we  may,  however, 
remember  that  the  tempest  which  breaks  over  each  man's 
soul  is  often  peculiar  to  himself;  he  it  is  who  is  being 
shaken,  not  God's  truth.  It  must  be  confessed  also  that 
the  rainbow  which  the  unveiled  sun  paints  upon  the 
threatening  but  departing  cloud  is  subjective.  In  this 
case  we  have  been  consoled  by  the  direct  radiance  upon 
our  own  soul  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness.  That  Sun  may 
have  been  hidden  for  a  while,  but  has  soon  emerged  from 
the  interception  whether  of  a  hurrying  satellite  or  a  passing 
cloud. 

The  Church  of  God  has  been  always  in  the  purgatorial 
flame.     But  we  may  say  of  this,  as  Virgil  said  to  Dante, — 

"Be  well  assured,  that  should'st  thou  here  abide 
Within  this  womb  of  flame  a  thousand  years, 
No  loss  of  e'en  one  hair  should  thee  betide." 

The  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  of  truth  is  by  its  very 
nature  militant,  but  invincible.  It  is  tossed  by  tempest 
and  upheaved  by  earthquake,  beleaguered  by  the  spirits  of 
evil,  and  in  constant  peril  from  enemies  and  treacherous 


202    **  MINISTERS   THROUGH    WHOM   YE    BELIEVED." 

friends;  but  the  gates  of  hell  will  not  prevail  against  it. 
The  Lord  knows  that  in  bidding  us  defend  it,  He  has  given 
to  us  a  task  impossible  to  our  unaided  strength.  The 
adjustment  of  the  claims  and  mutual  relations  of  the  Divine 
and  human  in  nature,  in  revelation,  in  the  person  of  the 
Christ,  in  the  spiritual  life,  is  a  feat  passing  wonderful.  In 
ourselves  we  have  no  strength  equal  to  it.  The  Lord  Jesus 
said,  on  the  night  of  the  Passion,  to  His  chosen  apostles,  to 
Peter,  Matthew,  John,  ''  Separated  from  Me,  without  Me, 
i.e.  by  the  aid  of  your  own  wit  or  wisdom,  by  your  own 
power  or  holiness, jiw^  can  do nothifig.''^  We,  too,  have  found 
His  words  to  be  true;  and  only  in  the  degree  to  which 
we  have  drawn  upon  His  supernatural  strength,  felt  His 
precious  blood  cleansing  us  from  sin  and  coursing  through 
the  veins  of  our  spiritual  nature,  and  the  Divine  life  of  the 
God-Man  thrilling  through  our  whole  consciousness,  and 
transforming  us  into  the  members  of  the  spiritual  Body  of 
which  He  is  the  Head,  have  we  ever  done  any  one  thing 
of  the  smallest  advantage  to  God  or  man.  We  are  here, 
dear  Lord  and  God,  gathered  to-night  to  eat  Thy  flesh  and 
drink  Thy  blood,  to  assimilate  Thy  Divine-human  nature, 
to  live  by  Thee,  "  that  our  sinful  bodies  may  be  made 
clean  by  Thy  body,  and  our  souls  washed  in  Thy  most 
precious  blood,  that  we  may  evermore  dwell  in  Thee  and 
Thou  in  us." 

Let  us  encourage  one  another,  comfort  one  another, 
with  the  words  of  life,  and  open  our  hearts  to  receive  a 
new  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  so  that  we  may  be  able  to 
see  God,  to  discern  the  Divine  working,  as  we  resume  the 
duties  to  which  in  various  ways  He  has  called  us.  In  every 
case,  and  notwithstanding   our  disappointments,  the  work 


"MINISTERS    THROUGH   WHOM    YE   BELIEVED."    203 

done  has  been  immeasurably  more  than  an  ilkisive  dream. 
The  result  of  it  has  been  more  sacred,  more  blessed,  more 
spiritual  in  its  issues,  than  in  our  most  sanguine  youthful 
hours  we  prayed  that  it  might  prove.  Once  we  aimed  at 
the  production  of  a  glorious  leafage  which  should  add  to  the 
strength  of  our  individual  life,  the  honour  and  admiration 
of  men.  Now  we  are  satisfied  with  nothing  but  fruity 
which,  though  it  exhausts  our  strength,  is  the  veritable 
end  of  our  existence.  Once  we  loved  our  life,  and  lost  it ; 
now  we  have  hated  our  life,  and  learned  to  find  it  only 
in  Him. 

I  feel,  more  than  I  can  possibly  express,  the  honour 
and  happiness  of  greeting  so  many  of  you,  who  have  been 
my  joy  and  crown  of  rejoicing,  and  the  solemnity  and 
sacredness  of  the  opportunity  of  once  more  addressing 
you. 

What  is  the  one  supreme  and  sublime  end  of  our 
calling — ei'her  as  workers  in  the  Church,  as  preachers  of 
the  gospel,  as  teachers  of  the  young,  as  heads  or  leaders  of 
colleges  or  societies  or  unions  of  Churches,  or  as  mission* 
aries  to  heathen  nations  ?  May  I  not  put  the  question  in 
St.  Paul's  burning  query,  *'  What  then  is  Paul  ?  What  is 
Apollos?"  Is  Paul  the  man  who  has  been  thundered  to 
from  the  skies,  or  caught  up  into  heaven  to  hear  unspeak- 
able words  ?  Does  he  glory  in  his  wisdom,  or  his  might,  or 
his  gifts  ?  Are  these  the  essential  features  of  the  apostolate  ? 
Nay,  verily!  What  is  Apollos?  Is  he  the  Alexandrine 
philosopher?  the  eloquent  writer?  the  ingenious  rhetori- 
cian ?  These  characteristics  utterly  vanish  in  comparison 
with  the  essential  purpose  and  prime  factor  of  his  call. 
What  is  Paul,  what  Apollos,  but  mi?iisters  through  whom 


204   "MINISTERS    THROUGH    WHOM    YE    BELIEVED." 

ye  believed?  The  entire  end  of  their  existence  in  the 
world  was  to  create  faith  in  others.  The  apostolate  was  a 
means  to  an  end  ;  the  end  was  the  faith  of  the  Church. 
The  faith  of  a  little  child,  of  some  slave  of  Chloe,  of  some 
son  of  Stephanas,  was  more  precious  to  God  than  the 
entire  career  of  an  apostle  per  se.  So  our  pastorates,  our 
publications,  our  Churches,  our  colleges,  our  great  societies, 
our  sacraments,  have  one  sublime  end  in  view,  im- 
measurably greater  than  themselves.  All  these  are  but  a 
ministry  by  which  men  believe ;  God  honours  the  means, 
He  loves  the  end. 

Is  it  necessary  to  justify  this  statement  ? 

Perhaps  it  might  be  necessary  in  the  outside  world  of 
men,  or  when  face  to  face — as  we  may  be  to-morrow — with 
the  titanic  energy  of  modern  unbelief,  or  when  confronted 
with  the  cynical  scorn  of  those  who  cry,  "  Let  us  know 
what  you  can  do.  Let  us  see  what  you  are.  Let  us 
have  proof  of  your  character.  We  care  nothing  about 
your  faith."  It  may  be  indispensable  to  vindicate  the 
apostle  when  in  the  presence  of  those  who  minimize  the 
force,  discount  the  advantage,  and  empty  out  the  contents 
of  faith ;  but,  even  here  and  now,  it  is  not  without  some 
advantage  to  inquire.  What  do  we  mean  by  producing  faith  ? 
and  how  are  we  continuously  to  pursue  this  apostolic 
function  ? 

I  would  not  exaggerate  the  significance  of  faith,  nor 
put  into  it  what  is  not  of  its  essence ;  I  would  not  define 
faith  by  its  own  consequences,  and  then  deduce  those  con- 
sequences from  faith.  That  mistake  would  be  equivalent 
to  the  fault  charged  by  Dr.  Martineau  on  the  physicists, 
— who  first  imagine  an  atom  and  a  unit  of  force ;   who. 


"MINISTERS   THROUGH   WHOM   YE    BELIEVED."    205 

secondly,  mentally  transfer  to  the  atom  thus  conceived,  all 
the  potencies  and  glories  of  nature  ;  and  then,  thirdly, 
by  an  apparently  logical  process^  deduce  these  from  the 
primordial  atom. 

If  by  faith  I  choose  to  connote  all  the  mystery  of  the 
Divine  hfe,  all  the  beauty  of  Christian  character,  all  the 
fruits  of  holy  living,  it  would  be  an  apparently  easy  task  to 
show  how  they,  one  by  one,  burst  from  their  germ  and 
follow  from  their  source.  We  cannot,  any  of  us,  produce 
faith  in  this  comprehensive  sense ;  we  cannot  bring  about 
moral  surrender  to  God  ;  we  cannot  recreate  the  soul  of  man. 
The  living  God,  by  His  Holy  Spirit,  can  alone  regenerate, 
can  alone  produce  the  heavenly  mind,  or  give  eternal 
life.  There  is,  however,  a  work  for  us  to  do.  Our 
mission  is  to  help  men  to  perceive  the  substance,  the 
underlying  reality  of  all  we  hope  for,  to  make  evident  the 
things  unseen. 

Even  Nature  here  may  help  us.  The  underlying 
substance  is  indefinitely  more  than  the  accidents  by  which 
we  are  enabled  to  recognize  it.  The  all-pervading  force  is 
unspeakably  more  than  all  the  manifestations  of  it.  This 
substance,  this  force,  is  more  than  nature ;  it  is  the  super- 
natural. Our  ego  is  again  unutterably  more  than  all  the 
states  and  impressions  with  which  some  would  confound  it. 
It  is  above  nature,  intimately  related  with  Cause  itself.  All 
cognition  of  the  substance  of  all  things  is  the  result  of  the 
faith-principle  of  our  inmost  ego.  We  cannot  repudiate  it 
without  mental  suicide.  This  same  faith-principle  takes 
hold  of  the  eternal  reality  that  has  been  manifested  to  our 
understanding.  It  is  by  means  of  it  that  we  see  the  invisible, 
mount  up  on  wings  from  the  temporal  to  the  eternal,  and 


'206   "MINISTERS   THROUGH    WHOM    YE    BELIEVED." 

find  the  awful  Holy  One  with  whom,  verily,  we  have  to  do, 
whether  we  like  it  or  not.  As  soon  as  the  object  of  faith 
takes  shape,  we  find  ourselves  confronted  with  abundant 
hostility  from  the  flesh,  from  the  principalities,  powers, 
rulers  of  the  darkness  of  the  world,  who  strive  with 
passionate  eagerness  to  close  every  chink  through  which 
the  light  of  eternity,  the  revelations  of  a  living  God,  may 
gleam.  There  are  those  who  sedulously  toil  to  transform 
every  hint  of  the  supernature  above,  around,  and  within  us, 
into  the  closed  circle  of  nature.  Miracle,  inspiration,  in- 
carnation, atonement,  spiritual  life,  sacrificial  consecration, 
eternal  blessedness,  are  all  reduced  to  fleeting  phenomena, 
of  that  which  is  called  nature.  However  comprehensive 
nature  may  thus  become,  and  though  we  identify  all  her 
ways  with  the  purposes  and  order  of  the  Eternal,  yet  He  is 
infinitely  more  than  they.  We  are  summoned,  it  seems  to 
me,  to  lead  men  to  feel,  to  see,  to  handle  the  unseen  and 
eternal,  to  lift  them  up  into  the  Holiest  of  all,  and  bid  them 
look  and  live. 

Let  us  take  the  sublime  fact  which  we  commemorate  this 
evening,  namely,  the  Sacrifice  of  the  Incarnate  Word  for 
our  sins,  the  Body  broken,  the  Blood  shed  for  us,  and  shed 
for  the  remission  of  our  sins.  If  by  faith  we  press  behind 
these  memorials,  behind  these  accidents,  behind  all  the 
words  by  which  we  speak  of  it,  to  the  substance, — if  we 
grasp  the  unseen  and  eternal  thing  here  foreshadowed, — we 
come  into  direct  contact  with  an  almost  blinding  light. 
The  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  the  dying  Christ  is  so 
unutterably  resplendent,  that  only  the  eye  of  faith  can  bear 
it ;  but  if  it  be  indeed  the  glory  of  God,  then  it  is  the  out- 
flashing  upon  us  of  that  which  is  eternal,  which  was  before 


"MINISTERS   THROUGH   WHOM    YE    BELIEVED."   20/ 

all  worlds,  is  now,  and  for  ever.  Infinite  love  and  absolute 
righteousness,  exhaustless  pity  and  consummate  sacrifice, 
the  inflexibility  of  eternal  law  accepting  the  anomaly  of 
humiliation  and  pain,  the  glorification  of  death  in  the  agony 
of  holy  love,  God,  at  His  very  best,  and  as  He  is  from 
eternity  to  eternity,  breaks  on  our  vision  !  The  Lamb  of 
God  slain  from  before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  the 
Lamb  in  the  midst  of  the  throne,  stands  before  our  inward 
eye.  Our  faith  lays  hold  of  these  when  we  see  Jesus. 
These  outstretched  bleeding  hands,  as  we  look  on  them  by 
faith,  become  the  everlasting  arms,  "mighty  to  save."  It 
is  this  faith  in  the  unseen  and  eternal  that  it  is  our  function 
to  evoke,  by  all  our  ministries  of  whatever  kind.  Only  so 
far  as  we  call  it  out,  can  we  fulfil  our  course.  Such  a 
mission  is  worth  living  for,  worth  dying  for. 

Some  of  us  have  occasionally  been  shy  of  this  conception 
of  the  eternal  God ;  but  what  tremendous  power  there  is 
in  the  truth  of  the  Divine  Nature,  just  as  it  is.  Sacrificial 
but  eternal  love  to  His  creature  blended  with  burning 
wrath  against  sin.  All  His  dispensations  in  the  past,  all 
the  temporal  mission  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Spirit  are 
expressions  of  His  eternal  nature,  revelations  not  only  of 
what  He  once  was  or  did  or  said,  or  of  something  that 
He  may  perchance  be  or  do  in  some  unknown  future ; 
but  of  what  He  is  at  this  present  hour,  and  will  be  for  ever 
(Ps.  xc).  Let  us  ponder  for  a  moment  our  infinite  need  of 
it.  Surely  nothing  can  exceed  the  pathos  and  the  misery 
of  our  condition,  whatever  science  or  philosophy  may  say 
to  comfort  us.  Child  and  woman,  sage  and  peasant,  rich 
and  poor,  king  and  prophet,  poet  and  practical  philan- 
thropist, have   felt  the  insupportable  burden  of  existence 


i 


208    "MINISTERS    THROUGH   WHOM    YE    BELIEVED." 

when  once  the  portentous  fact  of  sin  has  been  perceived. 
Many  religious  teachers  have  sought  to  solve  the  problem. 
Some  have  emphasized  the  pain,  and  have  sought,  like 
Buddha,  refuge  in  7iirvana.  Others  have  dwelt  on  the 
omnipotence  of  God,  and  sought,  like  Mahomet,  to  make 
all  things  straight  by  a  tour  de  force.  Some  have  lowered 
the  sense  of  right  to  the  level  of  etiquette,  and  have^  like 
Confucius,  lost  the  sense  of  futurity.  Others,  under  the 
power  of  Hindu  philosophy  and  ritual,  have  so  reduced  the 
consciousness  of  individuality,  that  man  has  appeared  to  be 
but  a  wave  lifted  upon  a  boundless  ocean,  drifted  for  a 
period — which  is  like  the  twinkling  of  an  eye— from  nowhere 
to  nowhere.  Many  in  these  days  would  have  us  renounce 
our  inquiry  and  lose  our  transcendental  fears  in  the  admira- 
tion and  cultus  of  humanity,  and  they  tell  us  that  the  future 
evolution  of  our  race  will  settle  all  the  inequalities  and  wipe 
out  the  old  scores.;  while  others  assert  that  poetry  will  take 
the  place  of  religion,  and  will  prove  strong  enough  as  an 
anodyne  for  our  irresistible  conviction  of  enmity  against 
God,  endeavouring  thus  to  throw  so  much  charm  around 
"  the  service  of  man,"  as  to  make  the  coming  age  indifferent 
to  "  the  service  of  God"  ! 

Now,  our  hopefulness  consists  in  this,  that  the  genuine 
Christian  experience  is  such  a  contact  with  the  living 
God  in  all  the  grandeur  and  fulness  of  His  Being,  that 
it  offers  the  one  solution  at  which  all  other  forms  of 
pseudo-religious  experience  aim,  but  never  find.  By  faith 
in  the  Christ  of  God  we  have  learned  to  blend  in  one 
indivisible  act  the  most  poignant  sense  of  sin,  the  most 
vivid  hnagination  of  evil,  with  the  perfect  assurance  of 
pardon;    to  cherish  at  one  and  the  same  time  the  utter- 


"MINISTERS    THROUGH    WHOM    YE    BELIEVED.      209 

most  sense  of  impotence  and  insignificance  with  the  over- 
powering conviction  of  conscious  union  with  the  Eternal 
One.  We  learn  with  the  pang  of  a  broken  spirit  to  shout 
"Hosanna;"  to  be  veritably  crucified  and  buried  with 
Christ,  and  nevertheless  to  live;  to  transform  the  cup  of 
blood  into  a  cup  of  thanksgiving. 

The  brotherhood  of  man  is  the  indefeasible  concomitant 
of  the  righteous  Fatherhood  of  God,  as  revealed  in  the 
cross  of  Christ.  Every  movement  of  love  to  man,  every 
device  of  Christian  heroism,  every  act  of  consecration  to 
Christ,  every  effort  to  take  upon  ourselves  some  of  the  sin 
or  sorrow  of  another,  opens  to  us  the  heart  of  Christ,  which 
is  the  lens  whereby  we  can  gaze  upon  the  Lord  God  Him- 
self in  the  eternity  of  His  blended  beauty,  the  awfulness 
of  His  holiness,  the  fathomless  ocean  of  His  boundless  love. 
How  infinitesimal  the  distinction  of  sect,  of  society,  of 
office,  of  method,  when  we  are  set  upon  securing  the  great 
end — namely,  so  speaking,  acting,  hving,  loving,  that  men 
may  believe  and  live. 

What  we  have  to  do  is  to  produce /^/M  — in  the  unseen 
and  eternal ;  God  Himself  will  do  all  the  rest. 

But  how  ?  First  of  all,  it  is  obvious,  by  exercising  it. 
We  must  ourselves  believe  and  live.  The  blind  cannot 
lead  the  blind,  nor  set  the  telescope  for  vague  and  wander- 
ing eyes.  We  often  deceive  ourselves  by  the  illusion  that 
we  can  induce  a  deeper  faith  than  we  feel.  We  try,  it  may 
be,  to  lift  people  to  our  own  shoulders,  and  then  almost 
in  despair  to  exclaim,  "  Now  you  may  see  what  I  cannot ;  " 
but  little  comes  of  it.  There  is  much  constant  communion 
with  invisible  things  demanded  from  every  man  who  would 
induce  faith.     Incessant  prayer  and  waiting  upon  God  are 

p— 6 


2IO   "MINISTERS    THROUGH   WHOM    YE    BELIEVED. 

needed  by  us  all.  We  should,  I  think,  sometimes  make 
inroads  upon  our  abounding  tasks,  cle.ir  a  space  of  time, 
and  refresh  and  recreate  ourselves  herein  with  meditative 
vision  and  abandonment  to  Christ.  The  greatest  realities 
of  our  life  lie  behind  that  of  appearance.  The  kingdom 
of  God  is  within  us.  By  inward  waiting  upon  God  we  renew 
our  strength,  we  mount  up  with  wings,  we  see  the  invisible. 
we  run  the  race,  we  endure  to  the  end. 

Secondly,  we  must  cherish  the  consuming  desire  to 
produce  faith.  I  know  that  I  have  the  desire,  but  I  some- 
times fear  that  it  is  only  the  desire  to  have  the  desire,  and 
sometimes,  alas  !  the  credit  of  the  desire.  The  desire  often 
becomes  languid,  and  I  am  tempted  to  feel  that  perhaps 
something  else  may  be  as  good  for  me  as  that  faith  which 
is  the  evidence  of  things  unseen.  Can  we  stir  up  one 
another  to  desire  the  thing  itself,  to  desire  to  win  souls, 
to  be  "  ministers  by  whom  men  believe  "  ? 

Thirdly,  I  feel  convinced  that  we  should  aim  at  the 
production  of  faith,  rather  than  aim,  as  we  sometimes 
exclusively  do,  at  the  production  of  the  fruits  or  conse- 
quences of  faith.  The  kingdom  of  God  is  as  if  a  man  sows 
seed  in  his  field ;  he  sleeps  and  rises,  night  and  day,  and 
the  earth  brings  forth  of  itself.  The  husbandman  does  not 
plant  germs  without  roots,  or  thread  either  real  or  artificial 
flowers  upon  barren  stocks.  How  much,  then,  belongs  to 
God  in  all  this  work  ?  And  yet  Almighty  God  seems  to 
crave  the  aid  and  call  for  the  service  of  human  hearts  and 
hands  in  the  great  work  of  creating  faith  in  the  minds  of 
His  children. 

"Do  ye  now  believe,"  said  the  dying  Christ,  with 
almost  plaintive  tenderness,  "■  that  I  came  forth  from  God  ?" 


"MINISTERS   THROUGH    WHOM    YE    BELIEVED.      211 

Then,  when  He  had  the  assurance  that  they  did  believe, 
and  even  though  He  knew  that  one  would  betray  Him,  and 
that  they  ^// would  forsake  Him,  He  seemed  to  say,  ^'Now 
I  can  go  onward  to  the  cross."  Humanly  speaking,  if  they 
had  not  believed,  the  Church  of  God  would  have  perished 
that  night  in  its  cradle  of  sorrow  and  blood.  All  periods  of 
revivals  have  been  times  of  vision.  The  victory  that  has 
overcome  the  world  has  been  faith  in  the  Son  of  God. 
Times  of  retrogression  and  horrors  of  deep  darkness  have 
passed  over  the  Church,  but  only  when  faith  has  been 
weakened  or  exhausted,  paralyzed  by  superstition,  or  en- 
cumbered by  incomprehensible  propositions,  or,  it  may  be, 
counteracted  by  the  feverish  and  deadly  excitement  of  the 
visible,  the  sensual,  and  the  selfish.  Some  knowledge  is 
indispensable  to  faith,  but  faith  is  necessary  to  the  know- 
ledge which  is  eternal  life.  Some  of  this  knowledge  is 
indispensable  to  love ;  but  "  he  that  loveth  not,  knoweth 
not  God,  for  God  is  love." 

Fourthly,  we  cannot  instrumentally  excite  faith  in  others 
without  deep  sympathy  with  them.  We  must  understand 
their  difficulties,  and  admit  that  some  of  their  perplexities 
are  genuine  and  honest,  are  the  product  of  neither  their 
conceit,  their  waywardness,  nor  their  depravity.  There  is 
honest  doubt  on  the  part  of  those  who  are  anxious  to 
believe,  but  cannot.  There  is  an  agnosticism  which  pre- 
pares the  way  for  faith.  But  let  us  not  forget  that  there 
have  been  times  and  Churches  in  which  for  a  while  the 
chief  apparent  function  and  desire  of  the  priest  or  presbyter 
has  been  to  scatter  confidence,  undermine  belief,  and  dis- 
solve faith.     God  save   you  from  this  deadly  fashion.     It 


212    ''MINISTERS   THROUGH   WHOM   YE   BELIEVED." 

is  well  at  times  to  rush  forth  into  the  open  plain  that  we 
may  see  the  stars  of  God.  We  must  understand  the  tempta- 
tions of  men  if  we  are  to  indicate  firmly  the  way  of  escape, 
or  bring  before  them  the  counter-attraction  of  the  Cross. 
How  difficult  it  is  to  get  so  close  to  a  brother  as  to  inspire 
an  admiration  for  that  which  he  slights,  or  scorns,  or  fears, 
or  loathes.  You  cannot  force  a  man  to  feel  with  you  about 
really  good  music,  poetry,  painting,  or  argument,  if  his  pre- 
possessions are  all  the  other  way.  You  will  not  succeed  by 
simply  abusing  his  ignorance  or  scoffing  at  his  lack  of  per- 
ception. You  must  take  him  hand  in  hand,  and  lead  him  out 
of  his  bad  taste,  and  put  the  true  beauty  before  him  until 
his  taste  flows  into  harmony  with  your  own.  So  we  should 
strive  to  set  forth  the  Christ  in  such  beauty  and  power  that 
we  shall  obtain  the  answering  fulness  of  admiring  and 
adoring  contemplation.  Only  by  much  study,  by  purged 
vision,  by  prolonged  training,  by  earnest  prayer,  by  manly 
effort,  can  we  undertake  the  solemn  function  of  leading 
men  to  enter  into  the  faith  and  fellowship  of  the  Son  of 
God. 


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ONDON  :    I'RINTF.D    BY    WILLIAM    CLOWES    AND    SONS,    LIMITED, 
STAMFORD   STREET    AND    CHARING    CKOSS. 


Preachers  of  the  Age. 


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I.  LIVING  THEOLOGY.    By  His  Grace  The  Archbishop 
OF  Canterbury. 

II.  The   Conquering   Christ,  and  other  Sermons. 

By  the  Rev.  Alexander  Maclaren,  D.D.,  of  Manchester. 

III.  Verbum  CRUGIS.     By  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Derry. 

IV.  Ethical    Christianity.      By  the  Rev.  Hugh 

Price  Hughes,  M.A.,  of  the  West  End  Wesleyan  Mission. 

V.  The    Knowledge    of  god,  and  other  Sermons. 

By  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Wakefield. 

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Rev.  Henry  Robert  Reynolds,  D.D.,  President  of  Cheshunt  / 
College.  ''^ 

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Rev.  A.  M.  Fairbairn,  D.D.,  Principal  of  Mansfield  College, 
Oxford. 

Vin.  The   Journey   of    Life.      By  the    Rev.   Canon 

W.  J.  Knox  Little,  of  Worcester. 

IX.  Plain  'Words  on  Great  Themes.     By  the 

Rev.   J.   Osw^ALD   Dykes,    D.D.,   Principal  of  the  English  Pres- 
byterian College,  London. 

X.  Sermons.     By  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Ripon. 
XI.  Messages  to  the  Multitude.     By  the  Rev. 

C.  H.   Spurgeon,  Pastor  of  the  Metropolitan  Tabernacle. 

XII.  AGONIZE  Christi.  By  the  Very  Rev.  William 
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